Secrets Unreachable
by Kida Lee
Summary: Currently rewriting and finishing, October 2010. Thank you for your patience. Trunks still fights the androids alone, but then a girl tags along powerful enough to help him. She has a secret that can make or break their friendship..
1. 1 First Impression

**_Before we start, let me fill you in on some things: _**

Juunanagou: android 17 (the guy)

Juuhachigou: android 18 (the girl)

Ki: energy (I think…when you see it written somewhere, I mean those energy balls)

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**_Another thing: _**

I've rewritten quite a lot. Most of it were sentences that didn't quite work or whole conversations even. Here are a few things I've worked on:

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1) The kiss between Juunanagou and Leela: I've rewritten this story and left out that bizarre kiss between Juunanagou and Leela. Seriously, I tried to work it, but I failed miserably. There are still weird feelings Juunanagou has towards Leela, but I didn't really go anywhere with it. Besides, it's Leela and Trunks who should get together at the end of the story…but then again, will their issues (read the story for more information :P) stand in the way:: insert cliffhanger ::

2) Oid: There used to be a character named Oid. Some of you may remember. I've changed that name into Meris. I've changed her character too. She used to be bitchy, now she quite nice. But she won't have too much to do with the story, so don't worry if it's not bringing back any memories. (consider her a typical filler)

3) Let's see, what more did I do? Ah yes! Remember when Trunks was all "boohoo-you-killed-my-beloved-Qiana" towards Leela? Well, he's still accusing her of that, but being less girly about it. So that's good. I didn't want him on and on about Qiana. She was a bitch anyway.

4) The last few chapters are rewritten the most.

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**_One more thing:_**

I'm Dutch and not an expert on the English language so please forgive me for any annoying errors.

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**_On with the story: _**

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**_Secrets unreachable _**

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**1. First Impression **

-

"Hey you! Get out of there!" the purple haired young-man called. He was levitating while fighting the two androids that terrorized the whole world for several years now; it was horrible. The people that survived the androids were either hiding below ground or searching for shelter in left-over buildings. The androids destroyed everything and the world seemed to be helpless. Only one took the task to defeat the androids so the humans could restore the world to what it once was. But for now, the two powerful androids destroyed everything that was in their way...for fun. They were too strong to be stopped by that one young-man, even though he was a mighty warrior; stronger than any ordinary human being.

"I won't go anywhere!" she called back stubbornly.

"Please, it's not save here!" he got hit hard and flew against one of the last standing buildings which tumbled down at the speed he went into it. Juunanagou laughed in triumph. Juuhachigou hovered beside him, proud and smiling. She enjoyed watching her brother beat up Trunks. But she enjoyed beating him up herself much more. She spotted the girl where Trunks had been calling to and informed her brother.

"Ah, another youngster who wishes to die." Juunanagou said pleased. "Shall I?" he asked his sister.

"Why? She's mine; you had your fun with Trunks." Juuhachigou said.

"So? Then you take him now. I've had enough of him, for now. Besides, why would you care for such a low-life like her anyway?"

"And why would you?"

"I'd like to scare her and make her run away. It's fun to see these humans running away in panic."

"Fine." Juuhachigou agreed and flew toward Trunks who was trying to get the rocks off of him. As soon as he did, their fight began. Trunks couldn't help trying to find the girl he saw just a minute ago. But when he didn't see her, he assumed she had fled somewhere save already and concentrated on the fight with the android.

The girl was indeed running away, but she had Juunanagou behind her. But she wasn't running away in fear as Juunanagou thought she was. She was running away from Trunks, so he wouldn't interfere. No, this was between her and this android. He had to pay for what he had done.

She stopped running and turned to Juunanagou. He stopped as well with a surprised expression on his face.

"Why did you stop? Are you out of breath?" his expression made place for a grin. "Too bad, I was going to let you live as long as you could run. You must feel stupid right now. This isn't your lucky day, is it?"

"Depends." she answered cold.

"On what?"

"On how long you last against me."

"I don't think you know me that well. I'm..." he got interrupted.

"Juunanagou, I know." she made clear that she obviously did know him. "You and your sister have destroyed everything on your path and killed half the human race. You both will pay, but you first. You wanna know why?"

"Because you simply cannot resist me?" Juunanagou joked.

"Yea, that must be it. I just love metal." she replied sarcastic. "My reason for killing you first is because you killed my brother right in front of my eyes. You slaughtered him brutally and enjoyed every moment of it. You let him suffer...He was only five years old!!!"

"Then where were you?"

"I tried to stop you, but I was too late. Your Ki-blast blew me against the wall and knocked me out."

"So that was what I heard. You were the one yelling. Tell me, did you enjoy the look upon your brother's face when you woke up?" he was dimly aware of what she was talking about, but he used it to get on her nerves.

Without hesitation she attacked head on. She kicked him directly in his face. His eyes got wide as he held his cheek.

"That actually hurt!" he called astonished. "How can that be? You're just a human."

"Am I? Are you sure?" her eyes were filled with hate.

"I am wrong, ain't I? You're not human… Don't tell me you're a saiyin." he sighed annoyed.

"Oh, but I am. And now I'm something else as well; something stronger and all because of you. You must feel stupid right now." she repeated what he said to her earlier. "This isn't your lucky day, is it?" she continued.

"Something else?" Juunanagou asked and floated in the air.

"Let's just say; I died."

"You d...?" Juunanagou sensed something that he could only sense within his sister and himself. How could he have missed it? "Of course! You got fixed. They fixed you. Stupid humans. So, did you enjoy killing your creators? I sure did when I killed mine." he grinned.

"No, I didn't get the chance. You were there first."

"Of course. So do you like being all wires?"

"I'm part wires, part flesh and blood. Anyway, time to die now."

"What?" Juunanagou asked confused.

"I'm sorry, was I too fast for you?" she said sarcastic. "It's like this: the ones who know, must die."

"Is it that big of a secret?"

"It is to me. But since you've got no chance against me, it doesn't really matter that you know. You're going to die anyway."

"Well I have a question for you."

"Ask away."

"Why did you run all the way over here when you could fight me back there?"

"Because I don't want Trunks to interfere."

"...What is your name?" Juunanagou finally asked.

"My name is not important."

"Can't I get at least the name of my '_potential'_ murderer?"

"They named me: Akhila Niyati."

"They named you what now?" Juunanagou thought he heard it wrong.

"'Akhila' means 'Complete'. The name my creators gave me when they completed me. One of the meanings of 'Niyati' is 'Supreme power'; which I have. It's Indian. One of the creators was Indian. Frankly I don't really care for those names; it's too long, so I shortened it to Leela."

"How many creators did you have?"

"Two."

"So now it's Leela, huh? Does that one have a meaning as well?"

"Come to think of it, it does. It means 'play and amusement'."

"Well, you sure are amusing, but can you play? Let's find out how playful you really are." Juunanagou smirked and attacked, but his leg got blocked by Leela so he kicked with his other one. Full hit. She swung back and fell down, got up again and blasted green light out of her hands, using Juunanagou as her target. Because he saw it coming too late, he crossed his arms in front of his face as protection. The light exploded and smoke was all there was left.

"That was easy." Leela said surprised.

"You don't think you've won already, did you?" the smoke vanished and Juunanagou floated toward her. "Tell me something, why did you let your creators even 'create' you? Didn't you like being just flesh and blood?"

"If I could choose I would like to be that way, yes. But I had no choice, I was dead, remember? I told you just a few seconds ago. Maybe you should check your memory-card. It's not working really well."

"How did you die, anyway?"

"How did you?"

"Who says I did?"

"I sense something human in you, android."

"You sense it?"

"If you were completely made out of that junk you're made of, you shouldn't be able to feel anything. But you have fear inside of you though you would probably never admit that."

"Really..." Juunanagou protested suspiciously. This Leela-creature sure wasn't what he'd expected.

"Here, let me show you." Leela disappeared which made Juunanagou be more on his guard. He tried to sense her power level, but she'd hid it. He looked around to see if he could find her. Suddenly she appeared really close to his face. He scared and his eyes got wider when he saw her fist coming his way...WHAM; right in his face. He swung back and fell out of the sky.

"Dammit." he swore and got on his feet staring at the girl in the sky. She just floated there...no, she was challenging him to make his move. He wanted to speed up to her but suddenly Juuhachigou appeared in front of him.

"Hurry, we have to get out of here..." she obviously was out of breath and her clothes were torn. "Trunks is much more powerful than the last time we fought him. I don't know how he did it, but he is. We have to get out of here and come back when we have a better strategy."

"But..."Juunanagou began but Juuhachigou already left. He took one last glare at Leela and said: "This will not be over."

"It will be soon." Leela responded and saw him flying away after his sister.

"Come back here!" Trunks was planning on catching up with them, but he saw a glimpse of somebody going the other way and decided to follow. Soon he lost track of the person when they flew between smashed buildings. It came clear to Trunks that the person saw him and tried to loose him, but Trunks did his best to find the person again. He knew the one flying away from him hid somewhere between the still-half-standing-buildings. Trunks lowered his power level and sought the one he was after. He knew only the two androids and himself who were able to fly, but never did he see anyone else who could do the same in his world. The person who he was trying to find could not be anything else but a female, because she moved her body so graceful when she flew very low to the ground dodging every rock in her way, while a man would probably blast them out of his way. But Trunks didn't do that in fear of hitting her. He simply followed, moving his body less graceful than the female. He had more speed, but still he wasn't successful in keeping up with her.

With her knees up, her arms around her legs and her back against the cold wall, she sat in a dark corner under the stairs with a few wooden planks before her to hide herself even more in the shadow. She saw Trunks passing her by slowly and held her breath. She fixated her eyes on his legs which was all she could see from under her hiding place. He seemed to slow his pace...why? Did he know where she was?!

Because of the fear of him spotting her she could not take her eyes off of him. She didn't notice herself shaking, trembling... He stopped! Why did he have to stop?!

_Please go away..._Leela thought. She saw his feet were set in her direction. He came this way! What should she do? Make a run for it or stay and hope? She wanted to run but her body didn't allow her. Her body disobeyed her! She tried to concentrate on her body so she could make her emotions leave her for a while, but the fear of being caught was too great. She didn't understand this! She wasn't afraid of Juunanagou at all, but why did she fear him then? She checked her memory...nothing yet...wait! She saw something, but it was all vague and the scenes didn't fit together. How strange. Leela tried to focus on the loose scenes, but just when she thought she had it, she caught herself gazing in his eyes. He had found her. Trunks had kneeled down in front of her and held out his hand with a kind smile on his face.

"Hey," he said softly. "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. Come on out."

Leela forced herself not to be scared of him any longer since there was no concrete reason to. Slowly she reached for his hand, but doubted if she should touch him. She looked in his comforting eyes and back at his hand. Trunks let her take her time. It was pretty dark where she sat so he couldn't really make out who she was.

Leela finally had the courage to touch him. She laid her hand on his, noticing his hand was warm and soft, but strong.

Slowly Trunks pulled her out of her hiding place. Leela let him, but she kept her guard up. Both got on their feet again. Trunks gazed in her eyes.

"Hey, you're the one who stood there while I was fighting the androids. How did you get away? I mean, I followed Juuhachigou when I saw you with her brother. How did you manage to survive him?"

"...I..."

"Wait, you flew just now, didn't you? Where did you learn this?"

"I..uhm..." Leela blushed. She felt awkward.

"I'm sorry, I confuse you. I'll ask you one thing at a time: How did you get away from the android?"

"I...didn't..." Leela answered.

"But then how...?"

"Did I survive? Is that what you want to know?"

"Well, yes."

"I fought him."

"You did what?"

"I fought Juunanagou. He is a weakling, I can manage."

"Where did you learn to fight like that? No human is strong enough to even hurt them."

"I'm not human. I'm a saiyin, like yourself."

"A saiyin?"

"Yes, my real parents put me in a spaceship when I was a baby. They escaped the destruction of planet Vegeta when Freeza blew it up. They went to another planet and lived there for years until I was born. They knew the planet they were living on would be destroyed soon and the spaceship they got with to the planet, wasn't strong enough to hold three. They didn't want to leave each other but they did want me to survive, so they send me here where I got taken care of by two people. A few years after that, they had a boy: Orion. They were my family. Then the androids came. I and my brother could escape, but my parents didn't survive. Orion did not get older than five; Juunanagou murdered him." she didn't notice the tears falling down her cheeks. "Juunanagou will pay and I don't want you to interfere."

"Why won't we work together? We have the same enemies; they killed my friends and my father. I have just as much reason of taking revenge as you." Trunks replied.

"Juunanagou is mine." she said and stepped back, pulling back her hand.

"If you do not succeed, I'll finish him off."

"Are you done with the questions?" Leela said irritated.

"Why did you fly away when you saw me coming?"

"I do not trust anyone; that includes you."

"That's understandable, looking back on your life. Then tell me this: Who are you really?"

"What do you mean? I told you who I am."

"You say you are a saiyin, but there's something about you I cannot explane. But I know it's there."

"I wouldn't know what you're talking about." Leela cast down her eyes.

"What is your name?"

"They called me Akhila Niyati. But I like Leela better."

"'They'?"

"...My parents!" she called out in a hurry.

"Calm down, no need to get so nervous."

"I'm not nervous!" Leela felt like she was caught doing something illegal.

"Well, Leela. I'm Trunks Briefs. Do you wish to come with me to meet my last relative alive? You can live with us for a while and train with me if you like."

"What a kind offer, but I think I'll refuse."

"Why? Do you wish to stay here? Where will you get food?"

"I'll manage."

"Are you sure? Because we have plenty right now. You can train in a special room where there's a gravity-meter."

"A gravity-meter?" Leela got interested.

"It's a machine which can be set on your own level. Fifty times Earth's gravity, hundred times, thousand times..."

"Okay, fine. I'll come with you. But Juunanagou is mine." Leela said stubbornly.

"If you do not succeed, I'll finish him off." Trunks said just as stubborn and flew up. "Follow me." he said and Leela did.


	2. 2 Secrets Unreachable

**2. Secrets Unreachable **

"Here we are." Trunks landed in front of the door. Leela wasn't far behind him, but right before she landed next to him, loose images suddenly forced their way into her mind; making her dizzy trying to figure them out. They seemed memories, but she didn't remember them. Gravity got to her. She fell down. Trunks saw this and could catch her on time.

"Hey, what happened?" Trunks asked worried.

"Nothing. Let go." Leela struggled and Trunks let go of her.

"Something happened. You cannot just fall out of the sky."

"Yes I can. You've just witnessed it." Leela answered sarcastic.

"What happened?" Trunks demanded.

"Nothing happened. Just leave it." Leela said annoyed.

"There is something." he said suspiciously. "There is something you're not telling me, Leela."

"Well, Trunks, maybe there is, but have you even considered that I might like to keep some stuff to myself?" For crying out loud, they've just met!

Trunks didn't reply and opened the door.

"Trunks? Is that you?" a voice came from downstairs.

"Hi mom! I brought someone." Trunks answered and turned to Leela. "Come on down, you'll meet my mom." Trunks waited for Leela to respond.

"Right, then shall we?" Leela finally said.

"Right, come on." he walked down the stairs, followed by Leela. Soon they reached Bulma.

"Hello son, who's she? Your girlfriend? You finally have a girlfriend?" Bulma said pleased.

"No, mom. Sorry to disappoint you. This is Leela. She a saiyin and agreed to train with me to fight the androids together."

"A saiyin?" Bulma asked surprised.

"I'll explain that part later." Trunks promised. "But she can stay here, right?"

"Sure! Nice to meet you, Leela."

"You too, ma'am." Leela said.

"Please, call me Bulma. By the way, Trunks, I have to see one of my friends later on to help me with this new device. It may help destroy the androids."

"It too dangerous outside, mom." Trunks warned her.

"I'll be very careful. Don't worry, I've done this before." Bulma smiled to comfort Trunks. "Besides, I'll go when it's dark and Heather knows I'm coming."

"Knows? The phones don't work and there isn't anything else to contact with." Leela pointed out.

"We still have walkie-talkies." Bulma contradicted her.

"Smart. But don't the androids know of those things as well?" Leela asked.

"Not yet and I hope it stays that way." Bulma replied.

"So? Where is that room you were talking about?" Leela turned to Trunks.

"Right, that room I was talking about..." Trunks hesitated. "Follow me." he left his mom to go to the end of the hall to the room. Leela was right beside him, exploring the area they walked in. A huge room with a big machine in the corner so there was enough room to fight in. The gravity-meter Trunks had talked about. She saw all kinds of swords hanging on the wall, weights of enormous amount on the floor, some bodybuilding equipment and the rest of the room was empty. The space was obviously needed to train fighting skills.

Trunks closed the door. "Here it is." he said.

"Good." Leela responded. "Let's begin."

"Right now?" Trunks wasn't really surprised to hear her say that. She was a feisty one.

"We shouldn't waste any time." Leela looked in his eyes.

"Sure, fine. Let's begin." Trunks hadn't even finished his sentence or Leela was already on him. He was lucky to have quick reaction or else he couldn't have blocked her punch that had a huge amount of strength behind it. Though he was able to block it, he got shoved against the wall hard. Leela stared at him.

"Come on. Hit me." she simply said.

"I have a better idea. Why don't you try out the gravity-meter? See how you can handle fifty times Earth's normal gravity?" Trunks suggested.

"Why? Are you scared to fight me?" Leela provoked.

"Right, remember you've asked for it." Trunks smirked and flew at her fast. Leela was pleased to know he was indeed very strong, but soon she learned he was way stronger than she was. Suddenly her fear for him came back to her. It made her weak and vulnerable. Trunks noticed this and wondered why. He decided to put an end to their training and ask her. But that wasn't easy since he had trouble stopping the fight. He saw fear in her eyes, and she kept fighting him as if her life depended on it. It not only confused him, but it worried him as well. Then he saw the opportunity to take her down. With a quick and smooth move, he grabbed her from behind and held her in a position which was impossible for her to get out of.

"Let go so we do it over. And this time, I win." Leela said, trying to struggle, but it was no use.

"You're shaking. What's wrong?" Trunks asked, holding her tight.

"Let go, Trunks!" Leela noticed he was right. She had to get out of here, away from him.

"What is wrong? Why are you shaking?"

"Let me go!"

"No, first you tell me what's wrong, then I'll let you go."

"I have nothing to tell." Leela said calmly, though she still trembled.

"Yes, I think you have. I can see fear in your eyes, you let your guard down too often and you're shaking, not to mention you fell out of the sky not so long ago. Now I want to know what is wrong." Trunks forced her in telling. He wanted to know what made her scare.

"Fine, I'll tell you if you let go of me." Leela replied.

"You tell and I will."

"You got that backwards."

"I don't think so." Trunks said.

"Do you trust me?" Leela asked, hoping that it would make him let go of her.

"...Do you trust me?" Trunks returned the question.

"Yes."

"If you did, you wouldn't be trembling." he pointed out.

"Then why would you ask? Now answer my question."

"Your secrets make me unable to trust you completely. But I will if you don't keep secrets from me."

"Secrets from you? Who do you think you are? My father?! I will never tell you any secrets!"

Trunks let go. Leela turned to see his face. "If you ever, ever do this again..." she warned him and walked away.

"Where're you going?" Trunks wanted to know but he didn't get an answer. Instead, she left slamming the door closed behind her. He stared at the floor confused, but mostly; disappointed.

-

-

"I thought I might find you here." Trunks bend down to meet Leela's eyes. She sat once again in the corner of the building where Trunks had found her the first time they met.

"What do you want?" Leela shot back.

Trunks sat down, just before the entrance of her hiding place. He wasn't able to really see her, for it was too dark. "I want to say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did."

"Then why did you?" Leela's voice softened.

"Because you were scared of me and didn't want to tell me anything. I just wanted to help you, but I did it the wrong way. I shouldn't have done that and I'm really sorry. If you do not want to tell me your secrets, then there's nothing I can do. I just want you to know that...that I'll be here."

"..." Leela looked at him curiously, then said: "Thank you."

Trunks smiled back. Before he left he said: "Do you want to sleep here?"

"This is my home."

Trunks wasn't really surprised by this. All the people lived in either smashed houses or buildings, or in the underground tunnels. "I offer you to stay at my place, where it's warm. Will you take that offer?"

"How will I know for certain you won't try to hurt me again?"

"I…hurt you? I didn't know it would strike you as hurting. I know I cannot undo what I did but I ask you to forgive me, to trust me."

"Fine, you're forgiven." Leela simply said.

In the way she said it, Trunks could make out that she didn't really mean it. And she never really answered his question. He knew by the way she looked at him, she didn't completely trust him. But she trusted him enough to go back with him...


	3. 3 Qiana

**3. Qiana**

One month had past. Trunks and Leela trained hard together and faced the androids only a few times. Trunks and Leela knew those two were up to something or else they would've shown themselves many more times. Trunks advised Leela to be careful when she would go out alone, but Leela didn't take that advice seriously by saying she could handle the androids.

"Where're you going? I thought we would train at this hour?" Leela saw Trunks standing by the door.

"I know, I was just gonna check up on some of these tunnels to see if there's anything needed." Trunks answered.

"Why?"

"I owe it to the people here."

"No you don't. They owe you. YOU are risking YOUR life to stop the androids. Not the other way around."

"I just feel better when I know everybody's still alright."

"Fine." Leela gave in. He was way too nice to people. Something was bothering him, but that was understandable since he had lost his father and all of his friends. He did have new friends now but it wasn't the same. He could not share his power with male friends, a quick struggle, making jokes, talk about typical guy stuff, talk about their history together... Leela felt sorry for him. She lost her friends too, but that was different. It must've hurt him badly inside. Leela wished she could make his life complete again somehow. He had helped her in many ways. He gave her a better place to stay, helped her train, gave her food and made her forget about the bad memories for a while.

But what could she; a nobody, really, do for him in return?

-

-

"Quick! Give me wet towel or something, and bandages!" Trunks put the weak girl on the bench. She got in the way of an explosion set off by one of the androids who fled when it saw Trunks. Her arm was bruised and a wound below her ribs kept bleeding. Leela gave Trunks the things he requested. He pressed the towel on her side to stop the bleeding and Leela had to wrap some of the bandage around her arm and a plaster above her right eyebrow. As soon as the bleeding stopped, Trunks would bind the rest of the bandage around her waist. There she rested for a few days to recover and regain her strength.

-

-

"How can I ever repay you?" the girl had just awoken. Her ebony eyes gazed in the blue ones of Trunks.

"You can tell me your name." Trunks smiled and checked her pulse.

"My name is Qiana." she smiled back. "What's yours?"

"Trunks."

"I thank you, Trunks."

"It was nothing." Trunks blushed. He noticed she was gorgeous. She was like a model. Even though she was dirty because of the dust and mud after the explosion, she was still beautiful; big ebony eyes, blond hair touching her shoulders and red lips. Her hands were soft, like the rest of her skin.

Leela was standing behind the kneeling Trunks and noticed his blush. He was attracted to her, she knew. "Hi, I'm Leela." she suddenly said and looked at Qiana.

"Nice to meet you, Leela."

"Yea..." Leela said and left.

"What did I say?" Qiana said innocent.

"I don't know." Trunks smiled.

"Maybe she's jealous?" Qiana evoked him, wanting him to say how beautiful she was, and he fell for it.

"Well, you are very pretty."

"Are you two involved?"

"No," he said. "No, we're not."

_Good,_ Qiana thought. _You're mine, handsome._ Qiana gave Trunks her finest smile.

"...Do you eh...want a bath?" Trunks hesitated.

"If you will help me? I can't move my arm without hurting myself."

"I must help you?" Trunks blushed once more. It made Qiana giggle.

-

-

The bath-tub was filled with warm water. Trunks helped Qiana in it. Then he walked back to the bathroom door. "If you need me, just call me." he said and wanted to leave but Qiana stopped him.

"Trunks?" she said.

"Yes?"

"I need you now. Will you do my back, please? I cannot reach it...my arm..." she said with her most innocent voice.

"Use your other arm!" Leela's voice called from down the hall. She heard what Qiana had said and couldn't stand the way she was speaking.

"Leela." Trunks warned her but she had already turned around the corner. Then he turned back to Qiana.

-

-

"Come on, Lee! Let's train." Trunks said.

"You are cheerful today. Does it have something to do with that girl you brought in?" Leela asked but already knew the answer. Both were on their way to the training-room when Qiana appeared in front of them.

"Hi!" she smiled.

"Speaking of the devil." Leela muttered.

"Where're you going, Trunks?" Qiana wondered.

"We are going to train." he replied.

"Can I watch?" Qiana asked.

"I don't see why not."

"I do." Leela said. "Our training is much too dangerous for someone like you to even be in the same room." she pointed out.

"But I will stand by the door if you want." Qiana gave her innocent tone.

"If you are on the other side of the door, then it's fine." Leela said in sarcasm. She couldn't stand Qiana's tone.

"Leela." Trunks warned. Leela gazed at him in surprise.

"What?" she said. "It IS too dangerous for her to be in the same room when we're training."

"Well, then we will hold ourselves back." Trunks suggested.

Leela sighed but tried again: "We might hurt her." she made clear and noticed him worry.

He thought this over, then said: "I'm very sorry, Qiana. You can come and watch when I'm training alone." Trunks said.

"But..." Qiana tried.

"I don't want you to get hurt." Trunks pointed out.

"Oh, Trunks." Qiana hugged him. Leela watched in astonishment. "You're much too good for me." Qiana added.

"Yes, way too much." Leela muttered.

"Did you say something?" Qiana let go of Trunks and gazed at Leela.

"I'm sorry, did I say that aloud?" Leela overdid her apologizing gesture and walked into the training-room, where she waited for Trunks who came ten minutes later.

"You sure took your time." Leela said annoyed and immediately began their training.

"Lee, why do you have to be so mean to Qiana? She did you nothing." Trunks said, defending himself by grabbing her leg with which she kicked and threw her on the ground.

"Oh, please! Don't you see what she's doing? She's trying to get you all to herself." Leela got up and hit him in his stomach, but he recovered quickly.

"So what if she is? Why would it bother you?" Trunks attacked Leela, trying to hit her back, but she blocked every punch.

"It doesn't. Her attitude, that's what bothers me. The way how she's trying to convince you that she is the best woman for you available, that stupid innocent tone in her voice... The girl is an actress!" Leela let her guard down because Qiana was getting to her and got hit by one of Trunks' punches. "Dammit!" she called.

"Don't let it get to your head, Leela." Trunks smirked.

"What do you mean?" Leela asked annoyed.

"I know you're just jealous." he replied.

"Me? Jealous?! Of whom?" she called out.

"Qiana." he simply answered.

"And how's that?" she sounded bored, hiding the fact she was quite taken aback by where this conversation was going.

"Because I'm attracted to her." he admitted.

"Are you kiddin' me? I will never be jealous of her!"

"Really..." Trunks said in disbelief. "She is rather pretty."

"Please." she snorted. "I see no future in us, Trunks. Trust me on this one." she said, clearly feeling awkward about it.

"Are you sure?" he made it sound like a joke.

Leela attacked him. She kicked and punched, but all of her attempts on hitting him failed. He was too fast and blocked each move she made. She let herself fall on the floor and tackled him. It worked. He fell down. She flew up and shot an energy-ball at him. Trunks crossed his arms protectively in front of his face as it came his way. A direct hit.

Leela's eyes were searching for him in the smoke. When he revealed himself again he planted his elbow in her stomach. She bent over. Trunks made a fist and covered it with his other hand, held it up and slammed it on her back with a huge amount of power. Leela tried to stop herself from hitting the ground but she couldn't even slow down. She hit the floor hard but got up and grinned.

"What do you say? Shall we turn up the gravity-meter?" she suggested.

"Okay." Trunks did what she requested and soon the fight was heating up. Kicks, punches, and all kinds of defense and attack maneuvers were tried out. It went on for hours! Finally they decided to call it a day and turned down the gravity-meter.

"Tell me something, and be honest." Trunks looked at her.

"Yes?" Leela gazed back, waiting for his question.

"Is there really no chance of you being jealous?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there isn't. I don't fall in love." Leela stated.

"You don't fall in love? How can you just not fall in love? Love is something that happens. You cannot fight it."

"Do you wanna bet on that?" Leela smirked, opened the door and left the puzzled Trunks behind.

Not a second after Leela had opened the door, Qiana came running in.

"Trunks!" she called out. "You aren't hurt, are you? Did she hurt you?" Qiana asked worried, noticing there wasn't anything left of his shirt.

"What an actress." Leela muttered and saw how Qiana searched his body for bruises she could take care of. It disgusted Leela to see Qiana's body literally crawling around Trunks', touching him wherever she could over his bare chest. Right when Qiana was behind Trunks, inspecting his back, Leela saw her looking at her. Qiana was smirking at Leela in an evil way. She received a surprising gaze from Leela who didn't know what to do. But when Qiana began to kiss Trunks softly on his shoulder while looking at Leela, she stepped over and grabbed Qiana by her collar. Leela was furious. Of all the nerve! How dared Qiana to challenge her?! She pulled Qiana away from Trunks and pushed her on the ground.

"I'll get you!!" Leela called out.

"Trunks! Help!" Qiana screamed. Trunks pulled Leela off of Qiana with some difficulty, but managed to keep her away from Qiana.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Trunks demanded, who was on his knees holding the terrified Qiana. "What do you think you're doing?"

"She challenged me!" Leela called in defense.

"What? Where did you come up with that?" Qiana asked with her innocent voice.

"You..." Leela pointed at her as a warning. "You better keep your mouth shut if you wanna live. I can see right through your innocent looks and tones. I know who you really are and I don't like you, at all."

"Trunks, make her go away. She frightens me." Qiana cried.

"Leela, if you don't stop it this instant, I..." Trunks got interrupted.

"You what, huh?!" Leela demanded.

"You better listen to me."

"No Trunks. You listen to me! She wants you all to herself! When she finally has you, you will mean nothing more than a victory to her. She will only use you and you will end up getting hurt. Is that what you really want?"

"I warn you, Leela." Trunks was protective over Qiana who cried in his arms but Leela saw her smirk while she was at it.

"Look at her! She's smirkin'!" Leela called out. Trunks looked at Qiana but she wasn't smirking no more. "She did smirk, dammit!"

"Right, that's it." Trunks let go of Qiana and stepped to Leela. He grabbed her arm, pulling her with him. "Outside." he commanded.

Leela took one last glare at Qiana: "There will come a time when Trunks isn't there to protect your ass!" she shouted.

-

-

"Are you out of your mind? Attacking her like that, what were you thinking?" Trunks and Leela stood outside.

"Why won't you listen to me?" Leela tried but couldn't get him to listen at all.

"Where did you get the nerve to hit her? You could've done some serious damage."

"I think she already is damaged; in her HEAD!!"

"I cannot believe you said that!"

"And I cannot believe you choose to believe her over me!"

"Well, she wasn't the one attacking you!"

"Trunks! You don't understand! She's up to something, I just know she is. Please, I don't want you to get hurt again, especially not by that girl."

"What? You hit her because you don't want me to get hurt by her? What do you know about getting hurt?"

"I know what it's like." she replied. "You know that." she added softly.

He knew what she was talking about and said: "My family was killed as well, as are my friends. The only one left is my mom."

"I have no one."

"You have me as your friend."

She took a step back. "No, don't lie to me. If you choose Qiana over me, then I have no friends."

"That's just silly. You know I'll be there for you. But Qiana has lost everyone as well. She needs someone."

"I cannot be in any area knowing she's there. It's either her or me."

"You're making me choose?" he asked astonished. "Then I guess you're right. You don't have friends. Friends don't make each other choose between other friends." Trunks said offended.

"You've made your point." Leela said coldly, then added: "I'll see you around." She flew away.

-

-

"Are you okay?" Trunks helped Qiana on her feet but she fell back, only to be caught by Trunks.

"I think she bruised my ankle. It hurts." Qiana said it in a way to make Trunks feel sorry for her.

"Here, let me carry you to the kitchen where we can put some ice on it." Trunks said.


	4. 4 Hurting Memories

**4. Hurting Memories **

"Who does he think he is?" Leela flew high in the air to prevent herself from banging into something now that she was angry. "Men..." Leela sighed.

WHAM!!

"Dammit!" she called as she held her painful head. She looked up to see what it was she bumped in to. "You?!" she called out. "I'm not in the mood for you." she sighed.

"I can see that." Juunanagou was in front of her. With his arms crossed he smirked at her. "Is that a tear?" he asked.

"No." Leela said. She never noticed her tears falling down her cheeks. They simply came.

"Then what's this?" Juunanagou came closer. He lifted his arm to wipe away her tear with his fingers, but she backed up a bit as a reflex. "Calm down. I'm not gonna hurt you, yet. I want to show you something." he laid his hand across her cheek and neck and with his thumb he wiped the tear away. He pulled his hand back to show her the tear. "See? You cried." Juunanagou convinced her.

"Get away from me." she hissed and pushed him away.

"Hey, now hold on, you're not gonna leave, are you? We didn't even have our daily match yet."

"Daily? You weren't around 'daily'. You two are up to something, but I'll figure that out soon."

"Why don't you figure it out now?"

"If it pleases you." Leela attacked him, but as she moved forward to hit him, he vanished and appeared behind her to punch her in her back, hard. She went down with such speed that it was impossible to stop herself from hitting the ground. But Leela didn't even bother. She just let herself fall and prepared herself to feel the worst. But when she was just a few inches away from the ground, Juunanagou caught her.

"Why did you do that?!" Leela questioned him in confusion.

"Because it's no fun when you're not even trying. It's too easy this way." Juunanagou answered.

"What's this? No foul play? I'm impressed." Leela said sarcastic and pushed herself away from him.

"Well, what can I say? I'm just looking for a fight that's worth my skills." Juunanagou answered, obviously thinking highly of himself.

"Than you must be searching for a long time, for you killed every _insect_ worth fighting you in this area." Leela said, only to get him pissed.

"I see one right in front of me." Juunanagou made clear he could bring her down easily.

"Really? A few seconds ago you said fighting me was no fun when I'm not even trying. What made you change your mind?"

"I never said I changed my mind. What makes you say that?"

"Well...THIS!" Leela kicked him in his stomach. He immediately reacted by giving her a punch in her face. He did it with such strength that she fell down. With a hand across her cheek she scowled at him. "I'll kill you." she hissed. "I will let you suffer first."

"Then why won't you get up and prove it?"

"I will make you sorry for what you did to my family." Leela stood up.

"Yes, I already know that. Let me tell you something; I've killed lots of people so you must refresh my memory. Who is your family?"

"I told you about my little brother."

Juunanagou thought about this. "Ah yes, him. You know what? I lied."

Leela looked at him in a puzzled way. "What do you mean?"

"A funny little story; I remember someone murdering your brother, but it wasn't me." Juunanagou said.

"No, you're lying..." Leela knew for certain.

"Am I now?" Juunanagou answered bored. "I simply watched the whole thing. It was pretty amusing actually."

"I saw you, I saw you." Leela began to see memories; vague and not complete. One memory after another came into her mind. Because they all came so fast, it made her feel dizzy and she fell on her knees.

"What are you doing?" Juunanagou asked confused.

"Get away..." Leela whispered at Juunanagou, scowling at him for one second but saw those memories again. She held her aching head; it was physically hurting her to see those loose scenes. It felt as if someone didn't want her to see...:

_She saw someone flying high in the air, shooting an energy-ball at Orion, her little brother. She tried to get to him, to push him away so it wouldn't hit him, but she was too late. The ball hit him and she got swung aside by the explosion, hitting the wall behind her and passed out. Leela tried to focus on that particular memory. The flying guy in the air...Juunanagou! But he had purple hair...no wait. His hair was black again. _

"Leave!!" Leela screamed at the android. Her memory didn't make any sense! She had two different ones. One was clear, the other was nothing more than some loose scenes, mostly blur. It was as if she was two persons or something! It was hurting her whenever she sought deeper into her mind. The dizziness overcame her. She passed out.

-

-

"Are you insane?!" Juuhachigou demanded her brother to explain himself.

"This is what we wanted, sis." Juunanagou replied.

"No, it is not. We were going to convince her. Make her trust us first, then we would take her here. Not the other way around!"

"Chill Juuhachigou, she's unconscious. What is the worst she can do to us when her eyes are still closed?"

"You'd better have a plan."

"I do. You see, when I told her I didn't kill her brother, she freaked. I didn't get it at first, but I figured she is an android, right?"

"...Right…so?"

"So, she is made. Her creators must've replaced her memory in order get her revenge for human kind; killing us."

Juuhachigou looked a bit confused. "I do not follow you."

"It's simple. She saw her little brother getting killed. Trying to help him, she got killed herself. She never passed out; she died. Her creators made her an android and replaced these memories. I didn't kill her brother, but she thinks I did." Juunanagou explained. He found this situation rather funny.

"Uhh..." Leela opened her eyes. "..What…did you say?" she said weakly. Leela pretended to be asleep, planning to get away as soon as the androids would leave, but that was before she heard Juunanagou's words. Leela got up, but she fell right back down due to her dizziness. She decided to sit. She looked at Juunanagou, trying to find answers.

"Hmm, you're up." Juuhachigou kept her guard up. So did her brother.

"I must be right about your memory, 'cuz I never killed Orion." Juunanagou said to Leela.

"But I saw you, it was you..." Leela replied. She wasn't too sure anymore. Maybe he was right? But if he was...then who killed Orion...?

"I know now how you died." Juunanagou smirked. "But you probably don't, that's why you refused to tell me, isn't it?"

"Trust, remember?" Juuhachigou hissed so only Juunanagou could hear her. She turned to Leela. "Look girl..."

"My name is Leela." Leela interrupted, irritated by Juuhachigou's contempt.

"Whatever." Juuhachigou sighed bored. "But now that you know the truth, why don't you run along and let us do whatever we want?" Juuhachigou suggested.

"And let you terrorize the world? I don't think so." Leela answered.

"Than join us. You know, I was there when he murdered your brother." Juunanagou came between.

"Speak up!" Leela stood up fast and grabbed his collar, but she weakened and fell on her knees. "Dammit." she muttered. "As soon as I can stand I'll try again. Just give me a minute to recover." she was still dizzy from the sudden memories that had entered her mind so abruptly.

"Akhila Niyati, we won't give you the time to recover." Juunanagou said. "Unless you agree to leave and never return, or you can always join us and have a pretty good life."

"Uhmm...how about...neither?"

"Unacceptable." Juunanagou kicked her in her side. She grabbed where it hurt as she lay down with her knees up to her stomach. Juunanagou knelt down beside her. "By the way, it was Trunks." he simply said and knocked her out.

"What did you do that for?! Now she will probably never trust us." Juuhachigou complained.

"She would never, believe me. But she cannot turn back to Trunks now she knows he killed Orion." Juunanagou said with triumph in his voice.

"You know how much I hate it when you go changing the plans without discussing it with me." Juuhachigou reproached him. "Hmm, you really messed her up." she smirked. "So tell me, what's in this for us?"

"Well, now we're able to fight one saiyin at a time. You see, I don't think the girl will ever want to work together with Trunks anymore. I figured it would improve our chances of winning."

"Good thinking."

"I know. Have you made a decision about Qiana?" Juunanagou asked curious.

"Yes, I have." Juuhachigou answered. "I was thinking, she did what she was asked to, so now she's like a third wheel. We don't have any use for her anymore."

"And...?" Juunanagou wanted to know.

"Simple; she dies."

"Poor Trunks. Qiana drove Leela away and made Trunks fall in love with her. She did her job very good. It's a shame she has to go." Juunanagou grinned.

"We were lucky she wanted this jewel or else she probably wouldn't have done it." Juuhachigou held a small diamond in her hand, looking at it. "All for this rock. How pathetic." she smiled pleased; "I think I'll keep this."

"Do you think it's worth anything?" Juunanagou asked.

"Of course it does. Especially now that everyone is so poor." Juuhachigou answered. "Qiana would be rich, having this. What is it with these humans and getting rich?" she said a bit irritated.

"What is it with girls and diamonds?" Juunanagou said it in the same way his sister did. "So, what now?"

"I'm bored. How about killing Qiana now?" Juuhachigou suggested.

"Fine, go ahead."

"Go ahead? What are you gonna do?"

"While you go slaughter Qiana, I'll stay with this one here." Juunanagou pointed at Leela. "When she wakes up, I'll slam her right back into nightmare-land."

"You better." Juuhachigou said and flew off in the hope of finding Qiana.

"I wonder what Trunks would say if he found out Leela is the one thing he hates so much." Juunanagou smiled at the thought of Trunks killing Leela solely because she was an android. How cold, he chuckled.

-

-

"What came over her?!" Qiana said shocked. She obviously still felt offended by Leela's attack. Qiana had no idea that the girl would really attack her. She didn't expect Leela would actually kick her ass. But it didn't matter. It was pretty convenient; Leela left because of a fight with Trunks over Qiana. He could give her all the attention, now that Leela was out of the way. And all of this because of Qiana's doing. She was proud of it. Especially now that she could collect what she earned: the diamond Juuhachigou promised her. She would be rich!

"I don't know. She can't be _that_ jealous, can she?" Trunks had doubts. Was he supposed to follow Leela and tell her that he wanted her to stay?

"She must be, or else she wouldn't have done this." Qiana said. She watched Trunks who sat on his knees, taking care of her bruised ankle while she was sitting on a chair in the kitchen, faking the pain.

"But still, you didn't evoke it…right?" Trunks thought about what Leela had said: _She wants you all to herself! When she finally has you, you will mean nothing more than a victory to her. She will only use you and you will end up getting hurt. Is that what you really want?_

"Of course I didn't evoke it! How can you even think about that?!" Qiana defended herself. "She was probably jealous." she tried to make Trunks doubts about her go away. She lay her hand on his cheek, making him look in her eyes. "But then again, who wouldn't be jealous of a girl close to you?" she gave him one of her finest smiles and slowly started to lean forward...

Thoughts were entering Trunks' mind unwillingly fast. It jumped from Qiana to Leela and back. His mind raised questions he could not answer because he didn't know the truth. Did Qiana really evoke Leela to attack, or was that a lie? Leela was gone now, but the true reason of her leaving was Qiana, why? She said Qiana was no good, but all he had seen of Qiana was her kindness toward him. She seemed so innocent. He couldn't be blind to see what was going on between the two girls, could he?

For a moment, time seemed to be standing still while he sought for answers. But he couldn't find them. He didn't know the truth. Who was lying and who wasn't? Qiana or Leela? Who was he suppose trust? Who COULD he trust?

While Qiana was getting closer, he let go of his thoughts, but kept his eyes on the girl who was about to kiss him. Their lips were only inches away when he stopped himself. He turned his face and softly pushed her away by her shoulders. Despite of what he felt for her, he still rejected her.

She pulled back her hand from his cheek. "I thought you wanted this?" she said disappointed and offended at the same time.

"I do, it's just…" Trunks didn't really know why he refused. "I do want this, but not now."

"Not now?"

"I'm not ready." he said, knowing it was a lame excuse, but it was the truth.

"You're…not ready?" Qiana wanted to call him names, hit him, do something to him that would humiliate him, but she knew it would destroy everything she worked on. She would not only loose him but she would loose the diamond as well, which was way more important to her; she could buy anything she wanted with that thing! She didn't really love Trunks, but she did develop a crush on him, though. Instead of calling him names, she chose to please him and save her chances on getting rich. Therefore she said: "I understand, Trunks." she stroke her hand through his hair once and stood up, walking away with fake difficulty, because of her ankle.

Trunks watched her leave. When she was just around the corner, someone opened the kitchen door.

"Trunks. I have bad news." It was Bulma. She carried the small black device which purpose was to destroy the androids.

"Mom, hi." Trunks welcomed her and stood straight. "What's wrong?"

"Well, Heather and I were trying to get this to work." Bulma held up the device. Trunks noticed all the wires hanging out of it. "And then it blew..."

"How is the room where it blew?" he was obviously still confused about what happened between him and Qiana before Bulma came in.

"Still standing." Bulma gazed at him, sensing that something was troubling her son, but she couldn't make out what, so she continued: "But that's not the point here." she said, wanting to ask what was wrong, but waited for him to respond first.

"I know it's not. Listen, you have to keep trying. Until then, I have to try to defeat the androids myself."

"I wish all of this wasn't…wait, what do you mean: yourself? What about Leela?"

"She left."

"I knew there was something wrong! Why did she leave?" Bulma wanted to know.

"Well, a lot happened while you were gone. Qiana sort of took Lee's place."

"Qiana? Who's she?"

"A girl I picked up in town. She was badly hurt after an encounter with the androids so I took care of her."

"She fought them?"

"No, she didn't."

"But you said she took Leela's place, and Leela fights."

"Well, yea, but Qiana didn't fight. She's simply human, you know. She can't fight the androids. She can't even fight at all." Trunks found the idea of Qiana fighting rather funny. She was most likely the kind of person who would cry over a broken nail. "What I meant to say was that Leela left and Qiana is still here. She has nowhere else to go."

"And…?" Bulma asked hopeful.

"And…what?" Trunks knew what she meant, but he tried to avoid it by acting naïve.

"Are you two an item now?" Bulma put the device on the table.

"Not really, no." Trunks walked away, avoiding any other questions of his mother, which were sure to come.

"Hey, where're you goin'? I want to know more!" Bulma said. "And why did Leela leave?"

"We had a fight!" Trunks called from up the stairs, entered his room and closed the door, leaving his mother without any further answers.


	5. 5 Broken Friendship

**5. Broken Friendship **

Juuhachigou flew through the air. Her eyes were searching for Qiana. Never did she really know where Trunks lived, so she had no clue where she could begin her search. Therefore she made a deal with the girl. Once Qiana had finished her part of the plan, both she and Juuhachigou would meet at the cave outside the village. Qiana would come to collect what was now hers.

Juuhachigou flew to the deserted area. She hovered above the cave where they were suppose to meet, but didn't see Qiana anywhere. "Damn girl, you'd better hurry." she said very much annoyed.

-

-

Qiana walked through the hall, in the hope of finding Trunks. But when she had searched the whole house and there wasn't any sign of him, she started to wonder where else he could be. She decided to sit in the living room, reading a book or something, waiting for him to get back. But when she was there, she saw a woman sitting in one of the chairs.

"Well, hello." the woman said. "You must be Qiana. I'm Trunks' mother, Bulma."

"Yes, hi." Qiana wasn't pleased to see her. She wanted herself and Trunks to be the only ones in the house.

"So, tell me something about yourself." Bulma said and pointed her a seat opposite herself.

"What do you want to know?" Qiana sat down with a sigh.

"How did you survive the androids?"

"They thought I was dead, but they were wrong." Qiana lied. Sure, the blood was real, and hers, but the androids never intended to kill her when they needed her. Her wounds were necessary, it had to be real or else Trunks would never fall for it.

"You're lucky you made it." Bulma said.

"Yes, yes I am." Qiana thought about how rich she was gonna be when she finally had the diamond in her possession. So what if it was small? It was still worth a fortune, especially now that everyone else was broke. She smiled.

"So, what's the deal between you and...?" Bulma got interrupted

"Deal? What do you know about that?!" Qiana thought she was busted. How could a woman she'd never even seen before know about the deal she made with the androids?!

"Trunks can't hide any secrets from me." Bulma smiled.

"Trunks knows too?" Qiana's eyes widened in disbelief. She hid it so well, but they both seemed to know. How?

"Well, yes silly. I know about you and Trunks."

"...?!" Qiana got confused. "Excuse me?"

"You two are dating, are you not?" Bulma asked.

Qiana knew what was going on. Bulma never asked about her deal with the androids. Bulma was simply curious about her relationship with Trunks. "I wouldn't call it dating." Qiana replied.

"Well, I asked Trunks and he said the same thing. Sort of." Bulma informed Qiana. "But then, what would you call it?"

"I don't know."

"You do love him, right?" Bulma asked strictly. She wouldn't want her one and only son to get hurt by a girl who didn't even love him.

"Yes, of course I do!" Qiana was quick to answer.

"But...?" Bulma knew there was a 'but'. She just knew it.

Qiana was very much interested in ending this conversation. "So, where is Trunks, anyway?" she tried.

"I heard about what happened with Leela and I convinced him to find her."

"You what?" Qiana questioned. Bulma was ruining her plans!

"I was worried. I asked Trunks if he knew where she was. He said he couldn't even sense her anymore, so he went out to find her. I hope nothing bad has happened."

"Right." Qiana stood up, which made Bulma wonder. "I mean, me too. Poor Leela. Maybe I should try and find her as well. Two is better than one." she hurried out the room. _I must get the diamond before they figure me out_. she thought.-

-

-

Leela opened her eyes. She saw Juunanagou with his back turned to her. Surprisingly Leela no longer felt the dizziness. She crawled to the android slowly, making absolutely no sound. As soon as she got too him she raised her arm and hit him on his back. It should have knocked him out, but it didn't. He did fell down and he saw Leela attempting to leave. He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him.

"You're not going anywhere." he hissed and pushed her to the floor, holding her down by her wrists.

"Get off me!" Leela called and struggled, but it seemed to be in vain. She thought she would be completely recovered by now, but that thought seemed to be all wrong. She didn't have all of her strength back yet. All because of her memories. Did they really drain so much of her energy? But why? Every time she sought deeper in her mind, all she felt was pain and all she received was blur and loose scenes. As if someone didn't want her to know. If Leela want to get all of her energy back, she knew she should not think of the memories she could not reach anyway. It was some sort of a warning for her to stay away from her past.

"Stop struggling, girl. You can't win." Juunanagou had a grin on his face.

Leela scowled at him. "Let me go." she demanded. "What more do you want from me?!"

"Have you made up your mind about the 'stay or leave request'?" Juunanagou asked her.

"Yes, I'll stay, but not with you." she answered.

"Wrong answer." he hissed.

"Trunks will find me." she suddenly said. She felt stupid saying that. As if she couldn't take care of herself. Besides, Trunks and she were no longer friends, right?

"Did you forget who killed you and your brother? That was Trunks, not me."

"Stop it." she said. Juunanagou forced her to remember, but it hurt too badly.

"Dammit Leela! Stop struggling!" Juunanagou let one wrist go and slapped her across her cheek. He grabbed her wrist again.

"Aw." Leela groaned. Juunanagou didn't hit hard, but just enough to keep her from struggling. She looked up in his eyes again, just to let him know she didn't fear him.

"Now, you know what happened. Then why are you still fighting the truth?"

"I'm not, I know damn well what the truth is, Juunanagou." she answered tough.

"Then tell me. What is it?"

"Why? You know it."

"I want to hear it from you."

"It was you."

"You know that's not true." Juunanagou sighed. "Now tell it right, or else..."

Leela didn't want to look into her blocked memories again. It was no use. She would never know. It was all so confusing. "Or else what? You're gonna finish your sentence?" she said in annoyance.

"Funny, I almost laughed. Now give me the answer." he demanded.

Leela thought about what Juunanagou had said before he knocked her out and simply repeated that: "Trunks killed me and my brother. My two creators found me and they fixed me."

"Good. You wanna know something? Those creators of yours, they didn't even do their best."

"I don't follow you." Leela said.

"They were in such hurry to finish you that they forgot to give you eternal energy. You see, you can get tired. We, on the other hand, can't. Juuhachigou and I can keep a fight going until the end of time. You need to rest. Pretty inconvenient, if you ask me."

"First of all, I'm not asking you. Second of all, yes that is inconvenient. Now would you please get of me so I can kick your ass and run away from you as far as possible? Seeing you from up close really freaks me out."

"Kick my ass? You think you are capable of doing that now you can't even get yourself free from my grip?"

"That's why I added: get off me first."

"Maybe if you ask me nicely I'll consider it."

"... Fine! Will you PLEASE get off me?" she tried again.

"Sure, but I have to knock you out again. I wouldn't want you to go away."

"Okay, knock me out. All is better than seeing your face in close-up."

"We share the same view. You're not so pretty yourself, you know."

"Does that mean you consider yourself 'not so pretty' either?" Leela smirked.

"What? No." Juunanagou noticed he'd just insulted himself. "That's not what I meant."

"But you said we share the same view and directly after that you told me I wasn't pretty. Now, that sounds to me like you're saying you don't find yourself pretty."

"Fine, I take it back."

"Does that mean you think I am pretty?"

"You are infuriating. And no, it doesn't. But it does mean that I think that I am." Juunanagou bragged. He let one of her wrists go, only to stroke his hand through his black hair once; big mistake. Leela saw the opportunity to push him off of her. She placed her free hand on his chest and shot a small energy-ball. Juunanagou got swung back, fell with his head against the wall and got knocked unconscious.

Leela wanted to fly away but in order to save some of her energy, she decided to run, while hiding her power-level. Where would she go?

Leela slowed down when she was far away from Juunanagou. Just when she thought that there would never come an end to the trees surrounding her, she left the forest. "Finally." she sighed and looked around, her eyes searching. Which direction should she go? Then she saw something flying in the air...she recognized it; Juuhachigou! What was she doing over there?

-

-

Juuhachigou was still waiting. The longer she waited the more impatient she got. At last! She saw a small dot coming her way. It was what she expected it to be. She landed in front of Qiana.

"What took you so long, girl?" Juuhachigou demanded. "I was about to leave."

"I'm sorry..." Qiana said panting. She ran most of the way to the cave. "I had to get someone off my back first."

"Well, now that you're here, we better finish our deal."

"I take it you have the diamond?" Qiana assumed.

"Don't dare to talk to me like that." Juuhachigou's eyes were spitting fire.

"I'm sorry." Qiana quickly said.

"Well, you got Leela out of our way. But we have no further use for you."

"And poor Trunks, he actually thinks I love him. What a fool." Qiana laughed. "Well then, I'll be out of the way when you have given me what I deserve." Qiana said. She couldn't wait any longer, she desired the diamond. She smiled when she thought about herself being so rich, she was able to buy a country, and the first thing she was gonna do with it, is name the country after herself.

"Sure, I'll give you what you deserve." Juuhachigou made a small light appear on top of her finger.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Qiana's eyes were locked on the pink light. Juuhachigou's finger was aimed at her.

"Getting rid of you." Juuhachigou replied.

-

-

"What the...? What is SHE doing there?" Leela saw Qiana talking to Juuhachigou. For a while Leela did nothing but stare at the two standing far from her. But then she saw that Juuhachigou was planning on murdering Qiana. She knew that if she would help, she would probably get killed herself, now that she wasn't on her fullest strength. Then she thought of Trunks. He obviously liked the girl. Leela noticed that when she was still welcome in the house. Qiana was about to die and Trunks would be left heartbroken. No, Leela forced herself to save Qiana.

-

-

"But I..." Qiana stammered out. "I helped you guys. You can't kill me. Please?" she never felt so scared. She looked around her to see if there was something to defend herself with, but couldn't find anything.

"Goodbye girl." Juuhachigou said. She was about to release the pink light upon Qiana when she got kicked in her side hard. Juuhachigou had fired. The aim got messed up. The Ki was supposed to go through Qiana's head; instead it went through her chest. Leela was too late.

"You?!" Juuhachigou called out surprised. "Look what you've done to my aim! It was a clear shot but you came along and blew it. Where the hell did you come from anyway?! Juunanagou..." she got interrupted.

"Juunanagou is sleeping." Leela said.

"What?"

"You heard me. He's down and out."

"But how..?" she got interrupted once more.

"I got my strength back." she lied and kept going. "I am even stronger now. Do you wish to find out?"

"Let's go." Juuhachigou said.

"..." Leela didn't expect her to say that. She wasn't at all stronger. She wasn't even half as powerful as she usually was. This was a fight Juuhachigou was sure to win. But suddenly both sensed Trunks' power-level. He was coming this way.

"We'll finish this another time. Alone." Juuhachigou hissed and fled.

Leela stepped over to Qiana. She squatted beside her. "Qiana? Hold on." she said, trying to comfort the wounded girl. "Trunks will be here any moment."

"...Lee..." Qiana tried. She breathed heavily. "I hate you."

"I hate you too, but you have to hang in there. If not for me, than do it for Trunks. The guy practically loves you."

"He already does...we kissed." she smirked.

"How nice for you." Leela couldn't find a better answer. She didn't care if they kissed or not.

"Leela?" Trunks landed behind her. She stood up, revealing Qiana. "Qiana..." he said shocked, then pushed Leela aside and kneeled beside Qiana. "Qiana, talk to me. Who did this?"

"Trunks..." Qiana smiled and laid her hand across his cheek. "I love you." she lied.

"Who did this?" he tried again. Qiana looked at Leela. It was enough for Trunks to know that Qiana was blaming Leela. Trunks' eyes got wider in astonishment. He looked at her for a second but his attention drew back to Qiana. She took her last breath. "Qiana." he whispered and closed her eyes.

"Is she...?" Leela didn't get the chance to finish.

Trunks stood up and turned around. "How could you do this?!" he shouted at her.

Leela could see his eyes, they were filled with anger. "I didn't. It was Juuhachigou. She and Qiana..."

"Don't lie to me! You've hated Qiana from the very first beginning!" Trunks approached her in a threatening manner.

"No, honestly. I..." Leela felt herself tremble as Trunks came closer. She stepped back. The fear for him which she used to feel before came back. Then it hit her, she knew now why she feared him before. Juunanagou must have been right. Trunks really was the one who killed her and her brother. If it was Juunanagou, she would probably fear him, but she didn't. She was scared of Trunks. That's why her memory showed someone with purple hair shooting at her and Orion.

Trunks was almost as close as he could get without touching her. "What are you doing? Trunks?" Leela asked and wanted to run away, but Trunks grabbed her collar with both hands.

"Get away from me!" she yelled, grabbing his wrists, trying to make him let go of her. It didn't work. She was not only too afraid, but she was also too weak.

"Tell me why you did this!" Trunks demanded. His face was threateningly close to hers.

Leela closed her eyes, trying to calm down but her mind wouldn't let her. Instead her mind made her see those few memories which her creators failed to block.

Again she saw the big energy-ball coming toward her brother. She ran to him, wanting to push him away but failed. She was about to see all of the memories which escaped the creators if it wasn't for Trunks. He threw her to the ground hard. Leela fell on her back. "Tell me!!" he shouted.

Leela crawled away but Trunks picked her up again. "Please Trunks! You have to believe me." she begged.

Trunks glared in her eyes and she gazed back in fear. He wanted to hit her, but didn't. Instead he said: "You are no better than the androids."

"Why won't you believe me?" her throat tightened.

"I'll let you go for now, but if I ever see you again, I'll kill you." Trunks replied. "Leave before I change my mind." he threw her back on the ground and looked at her like she was beneath him. Then he turned away and flew with Qiana in his arms back to his house.

Leela didn't bother to stand up. All she wanted right now was to rest.


	6. 6 Amongst the People

**6. Amongst the people **

Slowly her eyes opened. A headache was torturing her. She felt nauseas and she was sweating, but she felt so cold. She shivered, but didn't bother to keep herself warm. Her view was blurry and the things she did she, were either upside down or forming into something that she'd never seen before and never wanted to see again. She groaned and closed her eyes.

-

-

Once again, Leela opened her eyes -feeling a whole lot better now- noticing she wasn't where Trunks had left her. Her eyes looked into a small dark room. Leela couldn't see any windows. The only light in here was that of candles. She was lying in some hay on a blanket and more blankets were keeping her body warm. For a few minutes she kept staring at the little dancing flames of the candles, when someone entered the room. The figure was coming closer. It seemed to be a young girl; probably seven or eight. She had two long brown pigtails and hazel brown eyes.

"Hi." she said, glad to see Leela had awoken. "Cody!" the girl called. "Cody! She's up!"

Another figure entered the room; a boy. He was a bit older than the girl. Leela thought he was about ten years old. The boy was taller than the girl and had short blond hair, but had the same eyes as the little girl.

"Hello." he said on a tone as if he didn't care whether she was up or not.

Leela sat up. "Where is your mother?" she asked.

"We have no parents." the boy said coldly.

"They died. The androids..." the girl added but couldn't get the rest of the sentence spoken. She tried holding back her tears, but couldn't. Leela expected the boy to comfort her, but he just kept staring at Leela.

"Hey," Leela began, making her voice sound soft and looked at the little girl. "Come here." she said and lifted her arms. "It's all right to cry."

The girl moved towards Leela, who closed her arms around the girl, trying to comfort her. "It's okay." Leela said. "It's okay, I know how you feel. I lost mine as well."

The girl looked up. "Really?" she sobbed.

"Really." Leela replied, trying to smile at her. "What is your name?" Leela asked.

"I'm Lilly." the girl pushed herself away from Leela and pointed at the boy. She pulled his sleeve. "And this is Cody. He's my big brother." she said proudly. It made Leela smile. "What's yours?"

"Mine?"

"Your name, what's your name?"

"Unico." Leela answered. "I mean, I'm Leela." What possessed her to say her name was Unico?! What kind of name was 'Unico' anyway?

"You were dying." the boy suddenly said.

"Excuse me?" Leela asked surprised.

"You were dying." Cody repeated.

"Oh, you mean..." Leela knew what he was talking about. "But how…?"

"I found you."

"You found me?"

"You were dying."

"Yes, I got that part, thank you." she found Cody a strange boy; he seemed so bitter. She couldn't blame him. The fear and destruction the androids brought with them, must've damaged him. "But how did you bring me here? And what were you doing all the way out there? It's dangerous there!" Leela suddenly felt as if she was the mother-figure. How couldn't she?! Two children living in the dark, trying to survive: alone.

"I was just playing when Cody called me back. Then he saw you and…" Lilly replied.

"Why would you play there?" Leela interrupted.

"Because it's fun up there. You can run around and climb much better than down here." Lilly said enthusiastically.

"I don't want you playing up there anymore." Leela commanded.

"Why?" Lilly wondered.

"Because it's dangerous." Leela said strictly. "How did you two get me here anyway?"

"It's not far from our house." Cody said.

Leela looked around. It wasn't much of a house. "Not far? Where am I?"

"In the forest. This is our underground shelter. Our parents made it when the androids first came. It isn't finished, but it will be soon. We're working hard on it." Cody explained.

"Let me help you." Leela said and stood up, realizing she really did feel great! "It's the least I can do."

-

-

"How could you let this happen?!" Juuhachigou shouted at her brother.

"She surprised me." Juunanagou stayed calm, then added determined: "It will not happen a second time."

"You've got that right. She will not be here a second time. We were pretty lucky having her so weak, but now she will be able to recover." she explained. "How could you let this happen?" she repeated.

"Chill sis. Leela and Trunks are not together anymore, that's what this was all about in the first place."

"I should have killed her when I had the chance." Juuhachigou sighed.

"Speaking of killing..." Juunanagou looked hopeful in the eyes of his sister.

"Yes, she's dead." Juuhachigou threw the diamond somewhere in the corner out of frustration.

"I thought you liked it?" Juunanagou asked, referring to the diamond.

"Don't change the subject."

"Then what do you suggest we do now?"

"We can't do anything."

"You know I'm the strongest one in the universe. I can defeat them if I want to. I could do it right now."

"Then why haven't you already?"

"Because it sort of spoils all of the fun. I like fighting them."

"In case you haven't noticed: they are both becoming stronger. Especially Trunks."

"And I can still handle them."

"The next time we see them, we have to end it."

"Whatever you want, sis." Juunanagou sighed.

-

-

"Cody? Where do you get food and all of the other things you need?" Leela wanted to know. She and Cody were working on some unfinished things within the house. Leela was standing on a small ladder to paint the ceiling white so the room would look lighter, while Cody would gather all of the wax from the candles to be reused later on.

"Where do other people get them?" Cody said it like she should know the answer.

"I don't know." Leela confessed.

"They either trade or make it themselves." Cody sighed.

"Right, of course." Leela muttered. "So I guess you do the same?"

"What do you think?"

"I guess so." Leela said.

"Of course I don't!" he laughed.

"..." Leela didn't understand. Was he messing around with her? "But then how...?"

"I do it." a low male voice from behind her said.

Leela turned her head in the direction of the voice. She did it so fast that she lost her balance so the ladder underneath her fell down, pulling her with it. She rubbed her back as the voice continued: "I gather everything we need." he said and helped Leela up. "It's much too dangerous for the small ones outside."

Leela saw whose voice it was. A tall strongly build guy stood in front of her. Long blond hair was bound into a ponytail low in his neck. His twinkling blue eyes gazed in hers.

"But they do play outside, you know that, right?" Leela asked, wondering who he was.

"Yes, I know. When Lilly was outside playing I asked Cody to help me find her when he found not only her, but you as well. Then he called me and I brought you here. You're lucky they disobeyed me this time." Then he turned to Cody. "But don't let it happen again." he knew Lilly was in her room playing with the dolls she had made herself, but he would get to her later.

"How did you know I'm not a thief or something?" Leela asked.

"I just know." he simply said.

"May I ask for your name?"

"I'm Adam," he said and pointed at Cody: "Their older brother."

Leela thought he was somewhat older than Trunks. "Thank you, Adam." she said.

"You're welcome." he smiled and went to see his little sister.

-

-

"I buried her, but still the feelings won't go away." Trunks said quietly to his mother. Both were in the living room.

"Oh, Trunks. These things take time." Bulma said. "But eventually you will get over it."

"You know, I see the things clearer now." Trunks said, ignoring his mother's words of comfort.

"What do you mean?" Bulma asked.

"I..I didn't love...her; Qiana. I thought I did, but..." Trunks admitted. "Still, Leela will pay for what she has done."

"Are you sure it was her?"

"She was the only one there when I found Qiana. It must've been her." Trunks said. "I should have killed her then. But I thought I was too angry to make such a decision."

"You're still too angry." Bulma made clear.

"I'm gonna track her down." he was determined. "She has to pay. Now." Trunks grabbed his sword and left.

"No! Wait! Trunks!" Bulma called, but her words didn't reach him anymore.

-

-

"Adam, I need to go." Leela said.

"Go where?" Adam asked, looking in her eyes. He knew she had nowhere else to go to.

"I can't stay here. I put you and the two little ones in danger." Leela explained, though she wished she hadn't. She was sure Adam would question her. And he did.

"What do you mean?"

"There's no point in hiding it anymore." she muttered. "Look, Adam. The androids -not to mention someone else I know- _really_ want to see me dead."

"The androids want everyone dead." Adam pointed out the obvious.

"I know, but if they had a list, I would be on top of it."

"What have you done to make them so mad?" Adam asked surprised.

"Well, I fought them. I still am actually." Leela confessed to him.

"You what?!" Adam called out. "You're either insane or very, very strong."

"The last."

"..." Adam gazed at her. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Only one was brave enough to face the androids. And that was Trunks. Everyone counted on him, supporting him. But never did he know: "A girl who fights alongside Trunks?" he asked.

"No, not by his side. I'm on my own, like he is." Leela said strict. "But now you know why my presence here will put you all in danger. I must go."

"Will I see you again?" Adam wondered.

Leela gazed in his eyes and smiled. "If I make it, you'll be the first to know." she turned to the ladder behind her and started to climb. She opened the iron hatch above her and went through the whole to be outside. Just before she lock the hatch when suddenly she heard Adam calling: "Wait!"

Leela came back, looking down on Adam.

"…Be careful." he said.

Leela smiled again and answered: "You too." then she left.

-

-

She walked through the forest again, trying to find a way out. Soon she found the town. She had made up her mind. Leela was going to complete the mission her creators gave her. Only after that would she seek the true cause of her death. Not now, for the memories would only get in her way. _I cannot allow that happening again._ she thought as her eyes were looking over the town.

Her mind let her see the image of Qiana dying and Trunks blaming her for it. She had begged him to believe her, but he refused to do so. His voice kept crawling into her head: "I'll let you go for now, but if I ever see you again, I'll kill you." he had said.

Leela heard the same thing over and over in her head. It made her feel she had lost a friend. But then again, was he ever really a friend? She did see someone with purple hair murdering her brother and...NO! Not the memories. She had promised herself not to think of them until she had completed her mission, and she would complete it as soon as possible.

Leela stepped forward, into the town where she would wait until the androids showed themselves.

-

-

"Juunanagou." Juuhachigou said. "I have had it. I can't stand sitting here, doing nothing."

"I agree. Where do we go this time?"

"I don't know, how about some city?"

"One that hasn't been destroyed yet?" Juunanagou asked hopeful.

"Of course one that hasn't been destroyed yet. There's no fun in destroying a city that has already been destroyed, now is there?" Juuhachigou said. "Now come on."

"Say, I have a nice idea as well." Juunanagou suggested.

"Well?" Juuhachigou asked.

"What if we split up and we each find someone to fight with?"

"Why?"

"You find Leela and do with her as you please, and I'll pay a visit to Trunks. I'll show him who's the strongest."

"Why don't you find Leela and I'll pay a visit to Trunks?" Juuhachigou wanted to know. "You think I'm not strong enough to take on Trunks alone?"

"I recall you saying these exact words: 'Hurry, we have to get out of here. Trunks is much more powerful.' Just correct me if I'm wrong here."

"You memorized it?" Juuhachigou asked annoyed.

"I knew it would come in handy someday so yea, I memorized it." Juunanagou smirked.

"Fine, I do have a score to settle with that little brat anyway. She won't be messing up my aim anymore." Juuhachigou said. Leela clearly got on her nerves the last time they met.

"So, we agree? You take Leela and I fight Trunks."

"I'm already gone." Juuhachigou thought about killing Leela slowly, let it hurt real bad. The thought alone satisfied her.

-

-

Trunks was flying high above the town, trying to find Leela. _Maybe she actually left?_ he thought. _No, I will find her and make her pay._

Trunks felt so angry and frustrated. Not only did he have to stop the androids from killing, he now had a third person to stop: Leela. He couldn't allow Leela to become the same as the androids. He couldn't trust her now, not after she killed Qiana.

-

-

"Hey you! Come out or I'll blast you out." Juunanagou had landed on the ground when he saw someone duck between a couple of big rocks. "I'm not telling you again." Juunanagou demanded.

"Be quiet, you'll get us both killed." Leela stepped out of her hiding place and commanded him to shut up.

"I don't see anyone coming..." he felt Trunks' energy. "Wait, are you afraid of Trunks?"

"I have trained with him and believe me, you'd be better off fearing him. He is much stronger than you think. I know, 'cuz he held back every training. If not for yourself, then be quiet for me."

"So you're saying he can defeat us both?" Juunanagou wanted to know Leela's opinion, but in his arrogance he thought that he could defeat Trunks needing no more but 2 seconds.

"Us both? I'm not fighting by your side."

"Why are you so afraid anyway?"

"He thinks I killed his girl. But that was _your _sister. And now he's out for revenge."

"That sounds like you need some help." Juunanagou said amused.

"Help? From you I suppose? I don't think so. I hate you."

"Nah, I think you're just afraid I would hurt you."

"Yea, that must be it...freak."

"Chicken." he shot back.

Leela came closer and slapped him in his face like a girl would her boyfriend.

"Are you kidding me? What the heck was that?!" he chuckled.

She hit him again.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" he sneered.

"I'm having the time of my life..." Leela hissed, raised her hand again and swung it his way, but this time Juunanagou caught her hand before it hit his face.

"If you hit me one more time, I will..." he threatened.

"You will what? Finish your sentence this time?"

"Shut up."

"I will shut down your system sometime soon. Prepare yourself."

"Not before I shut you down first."

"You couldn't. You're too dumb. You wouldn't know how to shut down any system."

"You damn well know what I mean." he let her go.

"Why don't you explain it to me?"

"Were you born this annoying or did you work on it?"

"Ask my creators, they'll probably know more." said in sarcasm. She obviously succeeded in pissing him off.

"I'm gonna kill you."

Leela decided to piss him off some more: "Take a number and wait in line."

"You think you're pretty smart, don't you?" Juunanagou said.

"No," she replied. "I consider myself a master-genius. Now get away from me."

"Me? Getting away from you? You're the one who's so close." he pointed out.

"If I throw a stick, would you leave?"

"If you'd throw a stick, I'd bring it back and..."

"Kill me with it? Aren't you a predictable one?"

"Am I now?" he hit her in her face.

She got smacked to the ground. She looked up and saw Juunanagou smirking at her. "You didn't see that coming, did you?" he mocked her.

Leela thought only of Trunks who was surely coming this way now that Juunanagou used a great deal of energy to perform that punch!


	7. 7 A Truce

**7. A Truce **

"Here comes your friend." Juunanagou felt Trunks' energy nearing them.

Leela got up fast. "Enjoy your fight with him." she said and turned around.

"No, you're not going anywhere." Juunanagou grabbed her arm before she could leave. "I want to see you tremble in his presence." he smirked.

"Who says I'm gonna tremble?" Leela acted tough.

"I do."

"I'm not interested in fighting you right now so would you just let me go? You'll have Trunks to fight, isn't that what you want?"

"I told you before: I would like to see you tremble before your friend." Juunanagou said still smirking and powered up to lure Trunks this way. He looked up, awaiting Trunks' entry.

"He is not my friend. He's an enemy. You must know what that means, right? You have lots and lots of those." Leela pointed out. "Will you _please _let go of me?" Leela didn't want to power up to fight Juunanagou, because Trunks would know she was there with him and surely come to destroy her too.

"No." Juunanagou simply said and held her tight.

"...I beg you..." Leela pleaded and started to pull in an attempt to get free from his grip. Of course she couldn't without powering up first.

Juunanagou gazed at Leela. "You really are afraid, aren't you?" he asked, no longer smirking. He took a closer look into her eyes, seeing the fear in her eyes. Slowly he loosened his grip around her arm.

Leela gazed at him in surprise. He had let her go. She knew he would never have done that for anyone. Then why did he?

"Then go." he said, completely emotionless. "Flee, you coward." he felt sorry for her. For a saiyin he expected more from her. But it didn't matter anymore. He was going to beat Trunks and then let Juuhachigou kill her anyway.

She ran away.

-

-

"What?" Trunks sensed a high power-level.

"That would be my little twin brother." Juuhachigou said amused. "Maybe you should go to him? It's not polite to keep somebody waiting."

"Ladies first." Trunks said and attacked her...

Juuhachigou was flying through the air when she had run into Trunks by accident. They had been fighting since. It lasted until they both sensed Juunanagou powering up. Juuhachigou was glad she could take a little break. This guy was even stronger than they last fought. Much stronger. He didn't even have to turn into a super-saiyin yet. He seemed to handle Juuhachigou just fine.

Trunks continued to fight her, paying no attention to Juunanagou.

-

-

"Hmm, maybe I should announce myself?" Juunanagou went to the place where Trunks and his sister were having a match. His arrival made Trunks and Juuhachigou pause their fight.

"Finally!" Juuhachigou sighed. "Where were you? I thought you were supposed to take him and I would take on Leela?"

"I can't help it. I must be some sort of magnet for girls." Juunanagou said.

"You mean you saw her?"

"Amongst other things." he muttered.

"What was that?" Trunks came in between, clearly hearing what Juunanagou had said. "What did you do to her?" he demanded.

"I hit her of course. Why would you care anyhow? You were going to kill her anyway."

"What makes you say that?" Trunks wanted to know how Juunanagou knew about it.

"She told me herself. You seek revenge for the death of Qiana."

"What?!" Juuhachigou called out and turned her to Trunks. He didn't know that _she_ was the one behind Qiana's death? He thought Leela did it! Leela was taking credit for killing Qiana! 'Credit', that was how Juuhachigou saw it and it pissed her off.

Trunks looked at her, not knowing what her problem was. It didn't matter. He wouldn't listen to those two anymore. "Fight me!" he shouted and attacked them both, waving with his sword, splitting the air. He was about to swing it right into Juunanagou's chest if it wasn't for what he saw below him.

"Trunks!" it was Leela.

"The brat changed her mind." Juunanagou said amused. He saw his sister sneaking up on Trunks to beat him down, but Juunanagou stopped her.

"What are you doing?!" she hissed annoyed.

"Not yet, this ought to be good." he Juunanagou replied.

"What do you mean?" his sister asked.

"They are about to fight; friends who have become enemies. Those fights are the best and I want to enjoy it." Juunanagou explained.

"Hmm." she smiled, paying attention to the upcoming fight.

"I told you that if I saw you again I'd kill you." Trunks warned Leela.

"If you want me, come and get me." Leela answered back. She was fed up running away from him for something she did not do!

Trunks completely took his mind off of the androids in the air and scowled at Leela. He landed on the ground right in front of her. She had to look up for he was taller. She was already fighting; she was fighting her own fear. She could not afford to let her fear get in the way.

Trunks looked deep into her eyes; her eyes were so confusing to him. She had a secret and he knew it from the start, but what was it? He never found that out. Why was she trembling? Just like she would when they'd spar together.

"What are you waiting for?" Leela tried to say it as rude as possible.

"Yes, what am I waiting for?" Trunks repeated and grabbed her by her arm, pulling her close to him, threatening, making her gasp in fear. He held his fist up, ready to punch her. He wanted to hurt her, but she wouldn't defend herself. Then he forced himself to think about what she had done to Qiana. It made him get the feeling he was searching for. Now he could make her pay.

He swung his fist into her direction. Leela closed her eyes, waiting for the punch, but it never came. She opened her eyes and saw his fist had stopped just a few inches away from her face.

"Defend yourself!" he shouted.

"No. You want to kill me for something I did not do. I will not defend anything that is not mine to defend." her voice quivered, even though she tried to hide it.

"You did do it and you know it!" Trunks threw her on the ground like she was nothing.

"Then kill me!" Leela shouted back. "Get it over with!"

-

-

"What is she doing?" Juuhachigou asked her brother and kept watching the scene below them.

"She obviously wants him to kill her." Juunanagou pointed out.

"I know that." Juuhachigou said a bit irritated. "But why in the world would she do that?"

"I have no idea. Maybe she has a death wish?"

"Hmm, I can grant that wish for her if he won't."

-

-

"Get up." Trunks hissed at Leela, but she refused so he picked her up by her arm roughly. "I said 'get up'."

Leela knew that if she wouldn't fight him, he would only keep hurting her until she would. Therefore she took him by surprise. As soon as he grabbed her to pull her up, she planted a knee in his ribs.

He gasped, let her go and put his arm around his waist in pain. Then he looked up at her, scowling. Leela stepped back. Her eyes were fixated on his every move, but he vanished and she lost track of him. Her eyes were searching; she turned around and looked up, but couldn't see him anywhere.

Then she felt him standing behind her. As soon as she turned to see his face, he slammed her to the ground hard.

"Get up." Trunks demanded.

"Fine." Leela groaned, and before she stood up she stretched her leg and tackled him. "So how's that for defense?"

"Better, but it won't keep you alive." Trunks jumped up and attacked Leela head on. Leela tried to fight him off as if her life was depending on it...and it was.

"Trunks!" Leela called out panting as their fight went on. "You oblivious fool! Are you so blind that you didn't notice Juuhachigou was where Qiana was at?!" she got kicked in the shoulder.

"Come on! You never liked Qiana and the only one I saw there was you!" Trunks called, but Leela shut him up by planting her fist into his stomach.

"Dammit Trunks! I NEVER KILLED THAT BRAT!!" Leela yelled angrily and hit him again in the same spot.

Trunks groaned, but came back with a punch in her stomach. There was so much strength behind that punch that Leela coughed up blood and fell down again. "Qiana pointed at you when I asked her who did it. I need no more proof, Lee." Trunks' voice was low and deep; but not in a good way. Leela noticed a hiss in his voice when he said that.

-

-

"Time to end this." Juuhachigou, who was getting impatient, produced a ball of pink energy in her hand and set it loose into Trunks' direction.

-

-

"Why, huh?" Leela demanded.

"Why what?" Trunks asked annoyed.

"Why do you refuse to believe me?"

"You're keeping secrets from me. How can you expect me to trust you?"

"Then don't! See if I care!" Leela called and jumped up.

"Let's dance." Trunks said and they continued their fight.

Leela moved back. From the corner of her eye she saw a light coming her way. No, it moved toward Trunks.

Without hesitating Leela ran to him, jumped in the air and kicked him away before the ball hit him. Fortunately for her, she was just an inch away from the energy ball when it pierced its way into the ground.

Trunks eyes were fixated on the hole in the ground, but he forced himself to look at Leela.

The expression on his face made Leela know he was surprised by her rescue.

Trunks stood up. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Leela asked, knowing what he meant.

-

-

"What are they doing?" Juuhachigou said astonished.

"I have absolutely no idea. It's as though they are oblivious to your attack." Juunanagou answered and wondered what they were talking about.

-

-

"_'I will not defend anything which is not mine to defend.'_" Trunks quoted. "Then why did you defend me?"

"I tripped and fell, okay?" she felt a weird sort of pressure and it was annoying her.

"Then you fell with style." Trunks said and suppressed a smile. He found the situation rather funny, especially the way how Leela tried to cover it up.

"Will you drop the subject and attack the ones above? They are the ones who should be on top of your death list." Leela suggested. "We'll fight out our differences when they're gone. Okay?" she demanded.

"Fine." Trunks agreed and looked at her. He couldn't feel what he felt a moment ago; the anger towards her. He had hurt her and still she saved him! Why'd she do that?

Okay, time to focus! Trunks flew up fast to the androids and drew his sword once again. Leela flew after him.


	8. To my readers

Alright, how do you think it is so far? Good, no good? Different, too different? Better to read or just crap? Hope to hear from you soon!

Keep reviewing! I like reviews :D


	9. 8 The Device

**8. The Device **

Trunks easily overpowered Juuhachigou, but Leela had trouble with her brother.

"I thought you were scared and wanted to run away like the chicken you are?" Juunanagou said amused. He finally had the opportunity to not only make fun of her, but to defeat her in battle as well.

"I changed my mind so I could kick your ass." Leela said offended.

"Really? Then why aren't you trying?" he said smirking. He found it wonderful that she was doing her best to fight him and the fact that she couldn't hit him made it even better! He was mocking her for it. "Or is it that you have become slow?"

"I am _not slow_!" she shouted and increased her speed to prove her point.

"You know, our other little fights where you seemed to be better than I, was because you simply caught me off guard. But this fight will prove that I'm much stronger and faster than you are. My technique is superior. Yours is just too predictable. Plus your fear is blocking you from reaching your full power, not that it would improve anything." Juunanagou chuckled, amused to see Leela getting more and more frustrated. He only blocked her every move just to prove she could never hit him. But he thought wrong.

She kept kicking only, so his eyes would be fixated on her legs. Then she hit him face-high, letting him dodge it and she vanished, making fun of him by leaving him behind in confusion.

He hated it. He hated her! He knew she wasn't at all slow, or weak, for he had to do his best to keep her from hitting him. He would _almost_ come to respect her!

He expected her to come from behind, after all, that was her style, but again he thought wrong. She appeared right in front of him.

She made a somersault over him and placed her feet in his back. He cursed her as he went for the building below him. Not being able to stop, he flew right into it. Dust was everywhere, but it didn't stop Leela. She flew after him into the dust, finding him somewhere between fallen walls. She grabbed his collar and hissed: "I thought I was too predictable for you?" and planted her fist in his stomach.

He bowed down, spitting up blood. He would take revenge! He wouldn't stand for this any longer. This time he would finish her off!

Leela raised her fist to punch him again, but he straightened up and caught her hand, glaring at her. She saw his eyes were filled with anger. She had to do something fast if she didn't want to be hit herself. Therefore she tried to punch him with her other fist, but he caught that one as well. She put much strength behind it when she tried to push him back, but he bowed his hands, making her hands go backwards.

It was hurting so badly that she fell on her knees to weaken the pressure on it. But it didn't work; he would only strengthen his grip. She screamed as she felt one of her wrists snap. He pushed further, slowly so it would hurt more.

The pain increased, making tears well up behind her eyes. She had to push back if she wanted to kick his legs from underneath his body so he would let go. But it was hurting too bad and she doubted she could handle any more pain. She could feel he was close of breaking her other wrist. The agony made her weaken. No, she couldn't faint now; she had to do something!

Should she call for help? Trunks' help? No! She had to do this alone! She had to figure something out to... That's it! She gathered as much energy in her body as she could and concentrated on to ignore the pain, so she could use it for her plan. She powered up, as fast as she could.

An unnatural wind blew extremely hard into Juunanagou's face. It was hard for Leela to keep focusing because of the pain she had to carry. Though Juunanagou had trouble with holding on to her, he wouldn't let her go.

Leela made a brick from one of the fallen buildings next to her fly up with the wind and let it hit Juunanagou full on his forehead.

He screamed when he felt the stinging pain. He swung back at the force of the rock hitting his head and he was forced to let Leela go.

Leela took this moment to stand up and to kick him several times wherever she could. "I'll kill you!" she yelled and wanted to kick him again if it wasn't for the look upon his face. She saw him hurting. Blood was all over his body and clothes, but the wounds weren't that big.

He looked right into her eyes. She gazed back at him.

-

-

"Leela! How are you doing down there?" Trunks called from behind her, up in the sky. He was still battling Juuhachigou, but he was clearly winning.

Trunks' sudden interference startled Leela and thus let her guard down to answer him. But her answer couldn't get through, for she got knocked down from behind.

Juunanagou had planted his elbow in her back and had her breath knocked out of her. She fell on her stomach which made it all worse. She tried to gasp, but Juunanagou wouldn't let her. He let himself fall on one knee, right on top of Leela's back.

Her last bit of breath inside, along with the energy she had left, were forced to leave her body. She had to catch her breath quickly if she didn't want to faint, but it was too hard. And still she tried. Everything inside her was hurting.

_Good._ Juunanagou thought proud because he succeeded in knocking her down and she couldn't get up anymore. "And now for the final blow..." he said and held his arm up a bit, pointing his finger at his victim below him. He hesitated. It made him narrow his eyes in shame and frustration. But then he said to Leela: "Time to die." and fired his Ki-blast without any further thoughts that might stand in the way of his actions.

The smoke disappeared where Leela got hit. But she wasn't there! Juunanagou searched the area for Leela when he heard a voice.

"You didn't think I would allow you to kill her, did you?" it was Trunks, floating in the air. He had wrapped one arm around the unconscious Leela, letting her head rest on his chest. His other arm was around Juuhachigou's waist. She seemed knocked out. He wasn't as gentle with her as he was with Leela.

"No…" Juunanagou could barely get it out. He had clearly underestimated Trunks. How could Trunks have beaten his sister so easily? She was just as strong as Juunanagou himself was! No, he was stronger, even if it was just a little bit. He could still defeat Trunks. But could he handle Trunks alone?

"I guess you want your sister back, huh?" Trunks' grip around Juuhachigou's waist weakened and finally he dropped her, right at Juunanagou's feet.

He knelt down beside his sister. "Juuhachigou." he panicked a bit, but realized she was still alive. Then he picked her up. "This isn't over Trunks!" he shouted and fled.

-

-

Trunks watched him go. He would finish them off later. Right now, Leela was the center of his attention. He gently lay her down on the ground. She opened her eyes and met his. Scared as she was, she sat up and backed away, feeling tremendous pain in her left-wrist. She grabbed it with her other hand.

Trunks moved closer to look at it, but Leela's words stopped him to move further: "Please don't kill me…"

He looked in her eyes and remembered what he had said about killing her the next time he saw her. Then he thought about the reason and got to the memory of what she had done to Qiana. It raised all the anger and sadness inside of him again.

"Why shouldn't I?" he said with a hiss in his voice.

"Because…uhm, I have things to do tomorrow." she tried.

"You killed Qiana. She was defenseless. She couldn't even walk because of you. You deserve what's coming."

This subject made Leela angry. Again that Qiana-brat! Why wouldn't he believe she didn't kill Qiana? It was really getting on her nerves! "I don't know what makes you dumb, but it really works."

"What did you say?" he demanded her to take it back.

"If you had a brain, which you clearly don't, you would have wondered how she could get all the way at the place where she died when she couldn't even walk, according to you."

"You must've taken her there so you could do your thing without any interruptions."

Leela waited a while to give him a chance to figure out that what he had said sounded ridiculous. Instead, he found it justified. She sighed and decided to point it out to him: "You have no idea how stupid that sounds, do you?"

"She told me it was you, just before she..."

"She actually said that I was the one who murdered her?"

"Not in so many words."

"Well, then in how many did she, Trunks?"

"..." he didn't know what to answer. Qiana looked at Leela when he asked her who did this to her. But he wasn't there when it happened. Could it be that Qiana lied? "I..."

"Trunks, listen to me." Leela's voice softened. "I would never kill Qiana. I know how much you liked her. I would never hurt you." she confessed. "At least not in that way." she mumbled. "I'd probably poison you or something."

"Why thank you." Trunks said, not exactly relieved.

"You're welcome." she grinned.

Trunks' eyes gazed in hers. He still had doubts. Sure, it sounded ridiculous that Leela would bring Qiana someplace else to finish her off. But the fact was that Leela and Qiana hated each other from the beginning.

"Fine. I will drop the subject for now, but only because I need you to back me up in defeating the androids. When that is done, we'll see what really happened."

"Trunks, you're so damn ignorant!" Leela called out.

Again Trunks tried to move closer to check Leela's wrist, but she stood up fast. "What do you want?" she got scared again.

"Come back with me." he said.

Leela hesitated. "So you can kill me in my sleep? I don't think so." she said.

"You need your arm checked."

"Are you a doctor now?"

"Would you just come back with me?"

"No."

He thought he would increase the odds of her coming back with him by hitting her where it hurt: "You need training. You suck."

"I do not suck, you suck." she regarded him in exasperation.

"If you'd come back and train with me, you'll be great."

"Your back must be aching."

"Why's that?"

"Because of the heavy burden of a big ego you must carry. How can you possibly stand up straight? Besides, it is _you_ who can learn from _me_."

His expression was almost cynical: "Your back must be aching."

She laughed.

-

-

"Trunks! Leela?" Bulma stood in her lab.

"Hi." Leela said emotionless and looked in the room. It was almost empty if it wasn't for some rusty machines.

"I thought you two had a f..." Bulma begun but saw her son making a waving gesture, making clear Bulma shouldn't talk about it. "Anyway," Bulma got the hint. "Heather and I finally have something that could stop the androids for good!" she said with enthusiasm.

"Really? That's great!" Trunks called out. "Let me see." he said curiously.

Leela too got a little curious and looked at Bulma.

"Here it is!" Bulma had the small black device she and her friend had worked on for years, in her hand. "You simply push this button and it will kill every machine, no matter what it is, within 16 feet." Bulma was proud.

So was Trunks: "You did a great job, mom." he smiled. Finally he had those androids right where he wanted; shut down.

"Shall I demonstrate it?" Bulma asked, hoping for a 'yes' so she could show her creation.

"Of course!" Trunks said and Bulma's finger went for the button. The machines around her weren't really valuable anyway. They were no use at all, except maybe to fulfill their job as a target.

"No wait!" Leela called out.

Both Trunks and Bulma looked at her with raised eyebrows, wondering what it was Leela had to shout for.

"I...I need to check up on someone I met some time ago." Leela started walking backwards to the door. "Don't worry, it won't be long." she had reached the door. "By all means, please continue without me." she left.

"What was that all about?" Bulma asked.

"I have no idea." Trunks answered in the same puzzled way as his mother.

-

-

_That was close._ Leela thought. She would be dead by now if she didn't get away on time. After all, she was an android too. The thought of Trunks finding out what she really was, made her shiver. It would make the whole Qiana-issue worse. He hated androids. He would sure hate her so much for even being one that he would blame her for whatever he could and actually kill her this time.

Leela couldn't blame him for hating androids so much. They were the ones who murdered his father, his friends, other innocent people and whatever else they found. But still, he didn't have the right to blame her of killing Qiana. She didn't do that! Why wouldn't he believe her?!

Speaking of killing, she herself was close of becoming just a spirit herself during the fight with Juunanagou. She owed her life to Trunks. Juunanagou would have finished her off for sure.

-

-

There it was: the forest. She would visit Adam and his little siblings. She could speak about her problem between her and Trunks with Adam. Maybe he would understand? Or maybe not...probably not...Then maybe she could help them with something, as long as she was away from that machine-killing-device.


	10. 9 Qiana!

**9. Qiana?! **

"Adam?" Leela entered the underground house. "Are you there?" she got no answer. "Cody? Lilly?"

"Hello." Cody stood next to her.

"Jeez! You scared me." Leela said. "How have you been?"

"Whattya think?" Cody said, just as moody as always.

"So, is anyone else home?" Leela continued, ignoring Cody's behavior.

"Yea there is." Cody answered and left through the door which led to their very small and dark living room where the only light came from candles. Leela followed him.

"Oh Adam, have you seen my necklace?" a female voice asked. It sure wasn't from Lilly. This voice was much too…!!

Leela couldn't believe her ears. Was that the voice of Qiana?!

"I thought I left it on my dresser…so weird…" the voice said.

"Adam?" Leela softened her voice in a confused way. She had to be wrong about hearing Qiana. She had to be for Qiana passed away recently. Slowly Leela stepped closer, curious and yet doubtful.

"Leela!" Adam called out cheerfully.

"Hello Adam." Leela smiled. "How've you been?"

"Me?! Look at you! You're a mess. Have you fought…'them'?"

Leela looked away, ashamed. She did fight Juunanagou…and lost.

"Adam?" the voice sounded curious. It was in the room.

Leela looked in the voice's direction. "You…" she gasped.

"Adam, who is this?" the girl wondered and tried to smile to keep her cool. What was wrong with this woman before her?

"Are you okay?" Adam wondered when he saw Leela becoming upset.

Leela regarded the girl in front of her in astonishment. This was Qiana! The same eyes; hair; everything! She held a glass of water in one hand and a necklace in the other. How did she survive? Didn't Trunks take her with him? He buried her, didn't he? Then why was she standing right before her eyes?!

In the presence of the anxious-getting Leela, the girl began to feel unsafe without Adam's protection, so she hurried to him and grabbed his arm with the hand she held her necklace with.

"You are dead." Leela blurted out.

Adam felt how the girl's grip weakened. Her eyes had gotten wider and suddenly, a sharp sound of breaking glass filled the room; the girl had dropped her water in shock.

"What did you say?" the girl whispered at Leela.

Leela's eyes went from Qiana to Adam, to Qiana and back to Adam. "You know her?" she asked him.

"Who are you?" the girl demanded.

Leela had so many questions right now, she couldn't figure out which one to ask. Which question would cover them all? "You don't know me?"

"I've never seen you in my life."

"Who are you?"

"You answer mine first." she said back.

"Adam, who is this?" Leela insisted.

"What's going on, Leela?" Adam said as a reply.

"She is dead." Leela answered.

"Who is?" Adam asked.

"She is." she pointed at the girl beside him.

"Qiana." the girl said.

Leela knew it! This was Qiana. But how…?

The girl continued: "My twin sister."

Leela looked even more surprised. Twin sister? Her mouth dropped. Twin sister?

The girl left the room crying.

"Wait!" Adam called after her, but she wouldn't listen. He looked at Leela. "What's going on here?" he asked. "Who is Qiana?"

"Obviously her twin sister." she replied and thought it through.

"You knew her twin sister?"

"Yea, I did." Leela said. She pointed at the door where the girl had just walked out through. "Who is she?"

"Her name is Meris. I met her outside, when I was trading for some warm clothes. She has nowhere else to go and we could really use the help around the house, so I thought she'd come stay with us."

Leela felt guilty for the way she acted towards Meris. But how was she supposed to know? Of course she would, if she had thought about the fact that Qiana was long dead and buried underneath tons of earth! But it was such a shock… What had she done? She had just let a girl know her sister was dead, in the worst possible way!

"Wait here." Leela said to Adam and hurried after Meris. She past the hall, thinking this whole underground hideout was quite primitive, though very useful and most importantly: livable. There were four rooms; a kitchen without any electrical devices. This room was used for keeping and preparing food. Then there was the main room, furnished with a small couch; a few chairs; one table and a desk where the candles; flashlights and batteries were stored. A radio stood on the desk.

The last two rooms were bedrooms; one for Cody and Lilly, one for Adam…and Meris, so it would seem. Leela saw Meris sitting on one of the two beds. She was staring into a dancing flame of a lit candle.

"Meris?" Leela asked permission to enter the room. She kept her distance by the door. "Meris, I'm sorry. I didn't know…"

"How did she die?" Meris kept staring at the flame.

Leela came closer. "She was…" How on Earth could she bring this easy, when a moment ago she just blurted it out?! "Juuhachigou…she…"

Meris set her eyes upon Leela, who then got tongue-tied. "I see." Meris said. "She got killed by the androids.

"Well, one in particular."_ Shut up Leela! _she thought. _You only make it worse!_ Leela didn't know how to handle this kind of situation. Maybe it was best to just keep quiet.

"You know, Qiana wasn't the nicest girl around." Meris began.

Leela bit her lip. She had so many comments to that, but she knew none of them were appropriate.

"But she could be quite enjoyable at times." Meris looked at Leela curiously. "How did you know my sister?"

"That's a long story, but to make things short: through Trunks."

"Trunks? _The_ Trunks?"

"Yes, that one."

"Is he your boyfriend then?"

"He wishes."

"He wishes?"

"Nah, I'm just..." she sighed. "I don't think he likes me that much after…"

"After Qiana?"

"How did you know?"

"Well, that's my sister. She always got in between relationships of others. She took quite some pleasure in it actually."

"What a snob." Leela snorted, then gasped. What did she just say?! "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

"Yes, you did." Meris smiled at the apologetic look upon Leela's face. "I can't blame you. You must've hated her for taking Trunks away from you."

Leela wanted to say that she never had Trunks in the way Meris thought, but still, she couldn't say it aloud.

"So you are in love with him?"

"What?!"

"You were pondering. That can only mean one thing."

"I wasn't pondering. I was…thinking."

"Right…"

"Besides, even if I did like him, and I'm not saying I do, because I don't, he doesn't like me very much, remember?"

"Why won't he?"

"That's a long story."

"It seems you only have long stories. Just tell me, I've got time."

"Shouldn't you be crying about your sister?" Leela knew she was very rude now, but she didn't want to answer Meris' questions. She didn't even want to think about it herself.

"I tried, but it's been too long that we've spoken. It was the shock that overcame me. I'm sad, yes, but I'm not devastated. Qiana and I didn't like each other very much." For a moment, Meris got quiet. Then she said: "It's weird though, knowing I won't be seeing her anymore. And still, it doesn't hurt much. It's frustrating, not to feel grief for your own family, huh?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Do you have a sister?"

"I had a little brother."

"Had." Meris repeated.

Leela nodded.

"So you know what it's like to loose someone."

"I have to go." Leela said, wanting to avoid any questions relating to her family that she couldn't even answer herself. Before she left she said: "Listen, if you ever want to, like, talk or whatever…"

"Thank you." Meris smiled and watched Leela leave the room.

Leela found her way back to the main room, where Adam was still waiting.

"Leela." he said. "Is everything alright now?"

"Yes, it is. I'm sorry for making a scene a moment ago."

"It's okay." he said. "So, what made you come in the first place?"

_Ah yes, that, _she thought. "I uhm, I just wanted to see if everything was alright here. And it is."

"You're a good friend, Leela." Adam said.

Leela gazed at him, then wrapped her arms around him and said: "Thank you." she felt a shooting pain in her left wrist and pulled back.

"What is it?" Adam saw her holding her hand.

"I bruised my wrist when I was fighting them." she said. She was so embarrassed by the fact that Juunanagou had broken her wrist that she just couldn't bring herself to tell the whole truth.

"You should get that checked."

"I will." Leela forced a smile. "Anyway, I'd best be going now, before the androids start figuring out where I am."

"Will you come back?"

"Eventually."

"Be careful."

"You too. Say hi to the little ones for me, okay?"

-

-

"Leela." Bulma welcomed her. "Where have you been?"

"Nowhere important." Leela answered.

"Trunks told me your wrist is broken. A friend of mine is a doctor. His name is Will. He can help you."

"No thank you, I can manage." Leela could only think about what this doctor might find if he would take care of her wrist.

"Really, how?" Trunks had entered the room.

"It will probably heal in time." Leela said, knowing better than that.

"I don't think so. It will only get worse if you don't do something about it." Bulma said. "Now just let me look."

"No." Leela said. "I'm gonna take a bath and turn to bed. I'm tired." She left the room as fast as she could.

"So now what?" Trunks asked. "We can't make her."

"Yes, we can. When she's asleep, I'll enter her room and give her a drug through an injection so she won't wake up for several hours while Will can work on her wrist as long as he needs to." Bulma explained.

"Smart move." Trunks said, proud to have such a genius for a mother. He left for the gravity-room to train.

-

-

Leela was on her was on her way to the bath-tub, feeling the constant pain. She had to undo the break in her wrist. But she wouldn't allow anyone to do it and she couldn't do it herself. What was she supposed to do now?


	11. 10 Healing Friendship

**10. Healing Friendship **

_Heavy noises surrounded the area: the fight had already started. Leela had to take her little brother Orion out of here. But where was he? Why did Orion have to be so nosy? _

_"Orion, answer me!" Leela called. "Where are you?" _

_"I'm here! Come quick!" Orion replied from a distance. He stood in between fallen buildings, wanting his sister to see what he saw: Trunks was fighting both androids. _

_Leela followed Orion's voice. Finally, she found him. "Orion, get back here." she whispered behind a wall so neither Trunks, nor the androids could see or hear her. But Orion didn't listen. He was too fixated on the fight up in the sky. _

_Leela saw how Juunanagou dared Trunks to shoot Ki at him. Then she noticed that Orion was right behind Juunanagou! Juunanagou was deliberately standing in front of Orion, so Trunks couldn't see him! _

_Leela knew then that the android was very much aware of her little brother standing behind him. _

_Fear hit her when she realized that if Trunks would actually shoot… NO! _

_Trunks collected his energy, aimed at the android before him…and fired. Juunanagou flew up, dodging it. The ball of energy now made its way to the small boy. _

_"Get away!" Leela yelled and ran towards her brother to push him aside...but she was too late. She heard Orion scream her name as the ball of energy swallowed Orion, then exploded which made Leela hit the wall behind her with such force...if only she had been one second sooner... _

_"Orion..." Leela mouthed… and passed out. _

-

"Orion.." she woke up with an enormous headache, but it left her body unexpectedly fast. This wasn't a dream! These were the blocked memories that had been placed in an unconsciously level inside her mind. It must have slipped through when she slept. That would explain why she didn't have that headache bugging her whenever she thought about it.

She looked around in her room, noticing she was no longer in bed, she had fallen on the floor. As she tried to stand up, she looked at white bandages tied neatly around her broken wrist. Her eyes widened.

_What have they done? _she thought. _If they had done this, then they would know, wouldn't they?_ What was she suppose to do now? Wait? Flee...? But if they knew, and wanted her dead, wouldn't they have done that already?

"I see you are awake. Took you long enough." Trunks came in. He sure didn't sound so pleased.

"Trunks!" Leela startled. "You…scared me."

"Yea, I only came here to bring you this." he showed her a plate with some food and a glass of milk next to it and put it on the pedestal cupboard.

"…thank you." Leela said but didn't move.

"Why are you on the ground?"

"I…uhm, I fell out of bed." Leela admitted.

Trunks couldn't suppress a smile. "Are you serious?"

Leela saw his smile and got a bit upset. "It's not that funny. I had a nightmare!"

"What was it about?" Trunks asked, a bit more seriously now.

"Non of your business." she answered annoyed.

"Fine, just eat your damn food, so we can train." Trunks said, just as annoyed as she.

"Look at my wrist, you think I can?" she said in sarcasm.

"I think you can, yes." Trunks said. "In a short while you can. About one..." he paused at the last word, making sure she would hear it correctly: "week."

"You know, don't you?" Leela began. She knew he did; only she was able to heal a broken bone in a week for she was an android. She was made with a fast healing ability.

"I cannot believe you tried to hide that from me!" he said with a firm voice.

"I never thought you would find out anyway, if it wasn't for Juunanagou!" she called back.

"That's not the point here. You kept it a secret. How can you keep such a thing a secret from me?" Trunks asked with indignation.

"Because you hate...that." she couldn't find a better word to describe what she was.

"Is that why you hid it?"

"I thought you would hate me as well. I am the one thing you despise so much."

"Maybe you are, seen the way you treated Qiana. You're no different from the other two!"

"Remember when we fought and the androids shot Ki at you? I saved you from it. A little reverence might not be so wrong here." Leela pointed out.

"And do you remember the last time we fought the androids? You past out when Juunanagou was about to kill you. I saved you from that. So now we're even." Trunks shot back.

Leela glanced at Trunks. "I did NOT kill her!" she attacked Trunks. She was fed up with his continuous blaming. She couldn't stand it any longer.

Trunks saw she was blinded by rage; she punched and kicked wherever she could, not caring where she would hit. Because of that, Trunks could overpower her easily. He had blocked her every move and saw his chance to grab her and push her to the floor, using his weight to pin her down.

"Stop it!" he demanded her to cease her attempts to break free, but she kept struggling. He moved both her hands into on of his above her head, then closed his free hand around her neck, not choking her though, but it made her gasp in fear and stop her struggles. "You will stop these pointless fights you cannot win, understand?" he hissed.

"Then you stop your endless blaming." she hissed back.

"When I get proof about who killed Qiana and it turns out to be you, you know where you stand, right?" he threatened.

"I hope you get your proof, because it will say that it wasn't me and I'll be laughing in your face!" Leela blurted out in anger, though she didn't mean it.

Trunks glared at her and stood up, leaving her down on the floor.

Leela grabbed her painful wrist and glared back at him. "Did you love her Trunks? Did you really?" she stood up. "She damn well didn't love you!" she pushed him aside and left the room.

"Get back here." Trunks followed her.

Leela turned around abruptly. "You have no right to treat me the way you do." she looked at him.

"And you have no right to speak so carelessly about things you know nothing of, android!"

Leela gazed in his eyes, shocked…If he only knew who the cause of her being an android really was, he would not even dare to think it. Except, she wasn't completely sure if he really was the one who had killed her and her little brother. Her dream told her it was him, but then why did she keep thinking of Juunanagou being the murderer? It's was so confusing! Thinking about it made her feel dizzy. She hated her creators for making her what she was now and for blocking her memories. She was a saiyin; one of pure blood...then why didn't she feel like one?!

"…I need to go." Leela replied.

Trunks realized he had hurt her badly and it made him feel guilty. He'd known her for quite some time now. He should know she wouldn't kill anyone for some stupid reason. But then again, she was an android. He knew like no other what androids were capable of doing. Still, he couldn't let her leave like this. Not after what he'd said. He grabbed her wrist before she could turn around. "Wait." he said.

Leela moved closer in order to decrease the pain. "Let go!" she shouted in pain.

Trunks realized he had grabbed her broken wrist and let go immediately. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." he paused his sentence.

"It's okay, just leave it." Leela said annoyed.

"Lee, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you that."

"Why not? I am one, right? My big dark secret is out."

An awkward silence fell between them as though they were strangers to each other, not knowing what to say. Both felt the distance between each other, even though they were standing only a few inches away from each other.

"…I don't like the way our friendship is breaking."

"Then stop blaming me for something I didn't do." she pointed out. "It's really hard for me to just go back to the way it was when you keep bringing up Qiana's death and blame me for it."

"Then why were you the only one there when I found her?"

"I was trying to prevent her death. I told you it was Juuhachigou. She fled when she sensed you coming. Why would I kill Qiana? You know me better than that. Sure, she and I didn't like each other, but I would've never been able to kill the brat. I would've probably broken a leg two, but not kill her. She wasn't worth the fights we're having now."

"It's just confusing me. Why didn't I sense Juuhachigou when she was there?"

"You were too angry to sense anything back then. You were too fixated on what you saw, rather than what you didn't see. It's what you didn't see that you should've seen."

"Still, it is quite suspicious."

"I'm not arguing that. I'd probably feel the same way." Leela thought about whom to blame for her brother's and even her own death, so on some level, she could relate.

"You kept it from me. That's what makes this suspicious too." he looked at her wrist.

She knew what he was talking about. "Yes, I am an android, but I am _not_ like them." she looked him strictly in his eyes. "I'm _not_." she repeated. She could feel his confusion and sadness. The two androids had cost him so much grief in his life already and now this. She couldn't really blame him for blaming her. After all, it was like she said; he was blinded by rage and therefore couldn't see what was really going on.

He was fighting all his life to prevent anyone from getting hurt ever again, but he couldn't prevent it. He hadn't succeeded in defeating the androids yet. Their destructive nature never seemed to end. Leela knew that Qiana made him feel this burden less, because she stood symbol of what he was trying to save; humanity, even if she only was a small piece of it. Therefore he kept Qiana close to him. It told him there was hope for the world yet, until she got murdered. That was such a disappointment to him; he felt like he had let the world down; that he couldn't even save her, never mind the whole world!

He was so angry with himself that he didn't want to admit he would never be able to stop the androids, so he blamed the person closest to the scene: Leela.

"Trunks, you and I…" Leela began and put their differences aside without hesitating. If Trunks wasn't ready to trust her, than that was fine, but she sure wouldn't wait for it. She had to take matters into her own hands now and said with firm voice: "The way we started, it's how we'll finish them."

Trunks gazed at her. He had put her through hell by his painful accusations, and yet she was still willing to try and maintain this breaking friendship. He felt a brief sign of renewed motivation running down his veins. If she was willing to help this friendship back in place, then the least he could do was try the same. Together he and Leela would defeat the androids. He grinned and replied: "Yes we will."


	12. 11 Rude Awakening

**11. Rude awakening **

Leela's mind drifted to her younger brother, her damn creators and those stupid androids. But she didn't have the heart to tell Trunks about it. It would not only hurt her own heart, but it would be an extra weight on Trunks' shoulders. Besides, how could she bring the news? 'Hey Trunks, wanna know something ironic? You're the reason I'm an android.' No way, besides, she wasn't even sure.

She was now more than ever determined to go to the place where she was made.

-

-

"Leela wait!" it was Bulma. She had run out the kitchen and outside to stop Leela from going... where exactly? Bulma didn't know.

Leela heard her voice and decided to land before her. After the conversation with Trunks, she thought she could handle one more with his mother. "Hello Bulma."

"How is your wrist?"

"Fine, thank you."

"I uhm…I'm sorry for having done that without your permission, but it just couldn't heal by itself. You know that, right?" Bulma obviously sought an easy way out of blame.

"Yes, I know. But whatever gave you the right?" Leela wasn't going to let her off the hook that easily.

"It's like I told you. If you wouldn't let anyone help you, it would've only gotten worse."

"Were you alone when you did this?" Leela held up her left-arm strictly.

"Well no, there was that doctor I told you about."

"Was Trunks there too?"

"No, why?"

"Then I can assume you told him about it, why?" Leela demanded.

"He's still my son and he deserves to know."

"It was mine to tell when I was ready."

"And when would that have been?"

"After we destroyed the androids. He already blames me for something I did not do. Letting him know I'm an android doesn't make things easier between us."

"I thought you guys cleared out your differences?"

"No, we put them aside." Leela saw the puzzled look on Bulma's face. "Like a book on a shelf that needs to be read in better times." Leela tried to explain but it didn't help much.

"So anyway, where are off to?"

"Oh, nowhere. Just flying around, enjoying the blue sky."

"Don't you think that's a bad idea? The androids..." could she still use the word 'android' now that she knew Leela was one? But Leela didn't say anything about it, so it would probably be all right. "...are still out there."

"I'll lower my energy-level and fly low. They won't sense me."

"Wouldn't you feel safer if Trunks goes with you? I mean, with your wrist and all. You can't fight now. It'll break again."

"I'll be fine."

"Just to make sure, maybe you would like to take the device with you?"

"Yea." she chuckled. "That would be suicide."

"Oh, right! Silly me." Bulma remembered. "That's why you left so fast when I was about to demonstrate it."

Leela didn't bother to answer that. Instead she said: "By the way, thank you for drugging me into sleep and fixing my wrist." she meant it. Without the drug, she would've never had that dream that urged her to find out more about her history.

"You're welcome." Bulma smiled. "Just be careful from now on."

"I'll be fine." Leela flew up. For once and for all, she would find out her true memories...

-

-

She flew high in the air, instead of low, like she said she would. It didn't matter; Bulma wasn't here to check up on her anyway. Neither was Trunks and she didn't see or sense either one of the androids. She was enjoying every free moment of flight she had. Never did she enjoy it this much. As she was thinking about this, she may never enjoy it again, after the final battle with the androids…

-

The nearer she got to the place of her "making", the slower she flew. She was nervous; afraid she might actually find something within the mess that would tell her something she didn't wish to know.

Soon she reached a big crater. There used to be a house here, if it wasn't for the androids. But the lab she was made in was below ground; below the house; the basement. As she stared down into it, her eyes fixated on a semi melted door on one side of the crater. It showed there was a stairs behind it. The same stairs she had walked not too long ago, when the androids had destroyed the place. She was free to escape, for her creators hadn't survived. Even though their lab was below ground, the energy the two androids threw around could easily burn up the room above and melt the metal door to the basement. She remembered how the two creators had treated her like their project, not like a human, or even like an animal, but like a thing with one purpose, like most robots had: one purpose. And her purpose was to assassinate two murderers.

She hovered above the crater and sighed. This was it. With a mixed feeling of anger and a pain which matched a broken heart, she was literally looking at her past, thinking how this could have happened in the first place. But the answer was too obvious and already told: her only purpose was to save human-kind and therefore destroy the androids; that's why she was made. Her creators choose her, because she was already dead. But then, who was she before all this? She had two different memories, which one was true?

She knew she promised herself to wait until she had completed her mission, but all of the memories kept raising questions she could not answer. It was driving her crazy; she just had to find out as soon as possible.

She flew down and landed before the melted door and pushed it aside. She hesitated at the top of the stairs that led to the basement.

What if she didn't like the person who she would turn out to be…? Maybe there wasn't even any information about her left…? If there wasn't, she would never find out which memory belonged to her, and which to those creators! Did she really want to know? What if the memory of Trunks turned out to be true? That it wasn't Juunanagou, but Trunks who actually fired and killed her and her brother? How would she react if Trunks really was the reason behind all of this? And how would Trunks react if he found out he killed her? She sighed and despite this feeling, she went down. She needed to know. After all, it was what she came for.

The only light in the basement came from where the door once stood. It was reflecting some sort of a large water-tank right in the middle of the room. The glass was broken. She remembered it. Research, they called it. She felt humiliated when she thought about it. They kept her paralyzed inside that tank. There were wires all around her. She was naked and broken, unable to speak or move.

Embarrassment was to be read from her cheeks. How she hated this place from the bottom of her heart. How she hated those two men who had made her be what she was now. Half flesh, half machine…who made them gods?!!

BOOM!

The tank exploded; glass was flying around the room and then hit the ground.

Leela hurried to lower her power-level, hoping the androids were too far to sense her. She should've controlled her anger, not release it!

She stared at the space where the tank had been a few seconds ago before she blew it up as a result of her uncontrollable emotions. She pulled her eyes away from it and focused them on the rest of the room. There, in faint light, she could make out the shape of a desk against the wall on her left. She remembered it as deep-purple. Dust covered every part it. Glass creaked underneath her boots as she neared it. The sound was aggravating her.

Her hands touched the desk and fell on several books and documents. There were so many, how would she ever go through this much? It would take years!

She sighed in disappointment. "Dammit!" she called out and with one sweep she threw everything from the desk across the room.

This would lead nowhere! What was she thinking anyway?! That she would find a neatly stashed pile of paper all about her miserable little life? She should've known better than that.

She turned and strode across the room to the stairs, stepping carelessly on top the books, papers, glass and... what was this?! Her eye fell on a thin document. _"UNICO"_ it said. It sounded so familiar. She picked it up and blew the dust away. She looked at the big, dark letters: _"UNICO"_. It was a title. What did that mean and why did it sound so familiar? She turned a page and saw it again: _"UNICO"_. But this time there was something written below the word:

-

_ Unico; her name. Or so she told us. We did not ask further for she was too angry, sad and confused to even know what she was talking about. She was unreliable at the time. So instead, we kept her drained and quiet inside the tank. Because we were curious what had happened to this female that made her so unstable, we searched her memory after we had linked her to the computer. This was, of course, in a late stage of the project. First, we had to replace the damaged organs by highly advanced technology in order for her to fulfill her purpose. _

_Now, that she is completed, there is only one thing left for us to do: Awake her. _

_This project's name: Akhila Nyati. _

_This project's purpose: Destroy the androids and save human-kind. _

-

Leela remembered introducing herself as Unico when the little girl Lilly asked for it. So that was her real name after all: Unico.

Her eyes went back to the document:

-

_UNICO: _

_Her mother (Faye, housewife) and the Father (Lain, hardworking businessman) were both killed by the androids at the same time. Unico and Orion were not at home that day: _

_Faye and Lain had send Unico out to get her baby brother from the crèche not too far from their home, while they would make preparations to leave the town that was soon to be endangered by the androids. _

_When Unico, holding Orion in her arms, came back, she saw she was too late; the whole neighborhood she grew up in was gone. Orion was too small to understand, but Unico knew exactly who were responsible for this. _

-

With every word she read, she could clearly see it happening inside her mind, as if she witnessed this all before, and she had. Her memories were flowing back inside her mind with every sentence as she kept on reading:

-

_AKHILA NYATI: _

_Akhila Nyati is a saiyin, like Trunks. Planet Vegeta was about to be destroyed so the parents left it for another. But the planet they were staying on was threatened to be destroyed soon, too. Meanwhile the mother had given birth to the girl when they arrived on the planet. But because the spaceship could not hold three, the parents decided to only put their daughter to safety, for they didn't want to leave each other, but they did want their daughter to survive. She was send down to Earth. There she was taken by a couple. The family welcomed another child, this time one of their own blood. A boy: Orion. _

-

Leela tried to see this just as she did with Unico's story, but this one felt empty to Leela, unlike Unico's, which was filled with emotions. She felt almost nothing for Akhila Nyati.

_I cannot be Akhila Nyati. _Leela thought._ This is not my memory._ _It's all made up. I'm not a saiyin at all! They made me believe I was. Akhila Nyati's memories aren't mine. _

She had been an ordinary human; only half human now! The other half was nothing more than metal and wires!! How could they have messed with her body so much? Not to mention her head?!

But there was more:

-

_UNICO'S DEATH: _

_ Orion (at the age of 5) had wandered off to see what the loud noises were. Unico had found him near the battle between Trunks and the androids. One of the androids, the male, had placed himself in front of Orion so Trunks couldn't see him. The android was challenging Trunks to shoot. Just when Trunks was about to do so, Unico ran to Orion to save him. Trunks shot his energy-ball to the male android who dodged it, knowing it would hit the child behind him… and it did; Orion didn't survive. _

_ Unico got swung back against the wall behind her and fell unconscious. Enough damage was done to her for us to take her and bring her to our lab. There, we created someone far more powerful than a human being. _

-

Leela thought about the dream where Trunks was the one who killed her brother, but she thought she died too...?

-

_AKHILA NYATI'S DEATH: _

_Akhila saw her brother getting killed by Juunanagou. His Ki was so great, that it made her swing back against a wall. She hit her head so severely, that she died instantly. _

_We found Akhila and revived her, giving her the strength to destroy the androids. _

_Akhila Nyati will feel a bond between her and Trunks due to her being a saiyin as well. They will fight the androids together to increase the odds of their destruction and to save human-kind. _

-

No! This was all wrong! She wasn't Akhila Nyati back then, she was Unico. Akhila Nyati's memories were not hers, they were fiction. A story of two men who then made sure she wouldn't take her revenge on Trunks, for he had killed Orion and knocked her out. That's why she had been so afraid of him. She couldn't figure it out at first, because she couldn't remember. But Juunanagou had tricked him into it! This wasn't Trunks' fault!

Orion died and Unico became Akhila Nyati; false memories included. She wasn't a saiyin, she had never been a saiyin, she was human, an android now. Could she still be Unico? It were those memories that belonged to her…

Unico's memories, her true memories…

…!!

The words on paper were getting blurry as she tried to fight back her tears when she suddenly realized: "I survived." she whispered. "They created me while I was alive…"

_They could've saved me…instead they made me a robot…I could've been human still. _

She tore the pages in anger: "I could've been human!!" she cried out and threw the shreds away, watching how they slowly touched the glass covered floor; covering her past.

-

She immediately went to her room, passing by Trunks down the hall.

"What's the rush?" he asked, but got no answer. He watched her go inside her room and closing the door with a bang. He sighed annoyed at her behavior, but then realized she was crying. He heard her shedding tears softly. Should he enter...?


	13. 12 Secrets Told, Secrets Hidden

**12. Secrets Told, Secrets Hidden **

He kept staring at her door, hearing her cry behind it. He couldn't decide what to do. If he would go in, would she scream at him and show him back to the door? But maybe she needed him now, a shoulder to cry on?

Slowly he opened the door. "Lee?" he quietly asked and saw her curled up in a corner.

"Go away." Leela sobbed and buried her face even deeper into her arms, but her answer didn't keep Trunks out. He walked in further and sank down on his knees in front of her.

"What's wrong?" he asked a bit worried and lay his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"I can't." Leela's words were a bit unclear because she had buried her head in her arms. She didn't want to be seen by Trunks like this. She had to be strong now, instead she felt disappointed by herself. She couldn't weaken in front of him! "I can't." she repeated softly.

"What did you see?" he knew she had been out for a while but didn't know where. Neither did he know what she saw that made her cry, but something had scared her, that much was obvious. "Leela, what did you see?" he asked; a bit more demandingly.

She dared to lift her head and looked at him: "Nothing!" she shouted which made Trunks withdraw his hand from her shoulder. They were now sitting opposite each other. He saw the tears she was trying to hold back in vain. Slowly he reached out, placing his hand on her cheek and softly wiped away her tear with his thumb. He couldn't bear to see her like this. What was wrong? How could he make it right? He looked into her eyes, she in his.

Suddenly she wrapped her arms around him and let her tears flow. She felt how he hugged her back. She couldn't tell him. She couldn't let him suffer over the death of her little brother. She couldn't let him suffer over her becoming Akhila Nyati. It was Juunanagou's doing, not his. He hadn't seen Orion behind Juunanagou. It was Juunanagou who should suffer, not Trunks. Not Trunks!

Trunks held her in his arms; as long as she needed. What had happened to her? He closed his eyes as he felt her against his body. Leela's presence felt strange to him. It was overwhelming and yet he didn't want to let her go. He heard her sigh.

Being in his arms felt warm. For a moment none of her troubles mattered. Her tears had dried as soon as he embraced her. For a moment she had peace. Finally she would be able to be around him without the constant fear. She wasn't trembling in his presence. She was free from fear, finally. She sighed. "I've been to the place of my past." she whispered.

He gently pulled back to look her in her eyes. He listened.

"To where I was made." she explained.

"What did you find out?" he asked. Finally she was being open to him. She let him in.

"I'm not a saiyin." she whispered.

"…I know." Trunks confessed.

Leela looked at him in surprise. "You do?" she asked.

"I sensed it, but you believed you were a saiyin so much, that it was no use to tell you." Trunks explained.

"Oh…" she said, slightly nodding.

"But that's okay. You might as well be a saiyin, seen the way you're fighting." he tried to cheer her up.

"It's my only purpose." she replied.

"What is?"

"Fighting. Destroy the androids. That's the only reason why I was made."

Trunks looked puzzled.

"I found a document about me." she pointed out. "According to that, I was only unconscious when they found me."  
"Your creators?"

"Yes. They drained me so I wouldn't struggle. They needed a body that was only slightly damaged and therefore mine fitted their plan: their plan of creating an android strong enough to take on the other two. They thought you and I stood a better change together and that's why they made me believe I was a saiyin, so I would feel more related to you. They blocked my memories and replaced them for the ones that would be necessary for me to take my revenge on the androids." Leela explained. "I was still alive when they found me and I was still alive when they made me the way I am now. I was still human, just unable to protest. They locked me inside a water-tank for years where they could work on me."

Trunks didn't know what to say. First she lost everyone, then even herself.

"I feel like a machine, fit for one purpose." she forced a smile in vain.

Trunks took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. "You're not a machine. You're Leela, as I am Trunks."

Leela gazed in his eyes. She smiled. "Thank you."


	14. 13 No Matter What

**13. No Matter What **

Leela looked in the mirror. A sweater which actually belonged to Trunks, but he gave it to her so she wouldn't be dressed in rags all the time because of the training. Underneath the sweater she wore a simple grey shirt. She had blue baggy-pants and sneakers. All was Trunks' (except for the shoes), so she had to roll up the sleeves of the sweater and the trousers because they were too long. Who knew, maybe she would start a trend?

She walked to the kitchen and sat down at the table. She was the first one to come out of bed. It was only five in the morning, but she couldn't get back to sleep. What happened yesterday messed her up bad. Knowing her true past made her feel glad that she wouldn't be tortured by headaches whenever she thought about it anymore, but finding out who she actually was, was still hurting. After all, it was her family that was brutally murdered. Most of her grief went to her little brother.

She was glad she shared part of her past with Trunks. When she embraced Trunks for comfort yesterday, she felt so safe. She felt as if nothing in the world could ever make her sad again. But when Trunks had left the room, she felt alone again. She knew now how badly she needed his friendship, almost desperately. She weakened whenever he was near her. Was that a bad sign?

She noticed Trunks coming into her mind often these days, even if she had no reason to think about him. She had a friend, a wonderful friend. And she wasn't about to lose him again. She would do her best to remain close to Trunks, for he had done many things for her…though he did want to kill her not too long ago…

"Let past remain past." she muttered, thinking it had been a difficult time for both of them. She'd better focus on how to destroy the androids. There always was this thing Bulma made. But when it would be activated and she happens to be 16 feet within range, the radiation would finish her too.

She sighed, taking a look at her wrist. Though it wasn't hurting anymore, she couldn't risk taking the bandages off, not yet. Luckily her creators gave her a quick healing-ability. But why didn't they give her unlimited energy to fight? She could fight the androids forever without getting tired, they had it, but she didn't. Wasn't really fair, but then again, why should anything be fair these days?

She sighed again, staring outside, not knowing what today would bring. As she looked, she caught the beauty of nature; a beautiful sunrise between the fallen buildings and smashed cars. Surprised to have noticed it, she loved it. All was so beautiful all of a sudden, so quiet, so…peaceful. And she decided: no matter what, this peace had to return to be captured by all other humans, no matter what. The androids had to go, no matter what. If the moment came to use the device Bulma had made, she would use it…

"No matter what." she said determined, narrowing her eyes at the thought of the androids hurting the planet in any way they could, just out of boredom.

"Morning." Trunks had come into the kitchen.

Leela turned around to face him. "You're up early."

"I couldn't get back to sleep. How about you?"

"Same here."

"How do you feel?" he asked worried.

She gave him an encouraging smile. "I'm fine. You?"

"Hmm." he kept standing in the doorway. "Tired."

Leela smiled at him, then turned back to the window.

Trunks drew her attention again. "Lee, I was thinking, what do you want to do?" he was hesitant.

"I'm sorry?" she looked at him questioningly.

"About the device my mom and her friend had made. You know it can kill you when you're too close."

"Actually, I just thought about it and I say we use it anyway. When I'm too close or not, use it." she stood up.

"I don't know if I can." his eyes filled with sorrow and though he tried to hide it by turning away from her to make some breakfast, she knew.

"You have to. If you don't, I will." she said. "We must." she added. "You know that."

Trunks wanted to grab the milk from the refrigerator when she said that. He paused, feeling the coldness of the fridge on his arm, the coldness of the milk on his fingertips. He closed his eyes, knowing that once Leela had made up her mind, there was no way of stopping her.

He sighed, grabbed the milk. It was no or never, he had to tell her how much she meant to him. He just had to. Maybe, just maybe that would change her mind.

Trunks turned to face Leela… but his eyes gazed at the empty spot where Leela had stood. She had left the kitchen. He looked down in disappointment. He would lose her, he knew. Though she was prepared to die for a good cause, it would break his heart. But he knew his heart could never weigh up to the fate of human-kind and therefore he had to respect her wishes…

…no matter what…


	15. 14 Great Minds

**14. Great Minds… **

"So here you are." Bulma saw Leela sitting on the stairs.

Leela looked up so meet the eyes of Trunks' mother.

"I heard you wish to go through with fighting the androids...even if you life depends on it." Bulma obviously meant the device. She tried to get a reaction from Leela, but when she didn't get any, she continued. "Are you sure? I mean, I don't think I have the tools to bring you back when you are caught in the radiation."

"I'm sure." Leela smiled at Bulma. "I'm not important enough; human-kind is."

"But can't you at least try defeating them by fighting first?" Bulma tried. Leela's silence was enough for Bulma to figure out the answer. "Look, I know I cannot change your mind, but at least promise me that you will only use the device as a last resort."

"I can't. The androids must be destroyed as soon as possible." Leela said.

"If not for me, then do it for Trunks." Bulma got a little more aggressive saying this. After all, in the end, it would be her son who's hurting.

"Trunks?" her eyes looked puzzled into Bulma's direction.

"Yes, Trunks."

"Oh, I see you talked to him. He said he couldn't go through with it when the time would come." Leela stood up. "I'm sorry Bulma, but he has to." and with those words, she left for her room.

"No, you're wrong. I didn't talk to him; I can see it in his eyes." Bulma whispered.

-

-

Trunks was in the gravitation-room, fighting off his fury against high gravity levels. How stupid could he be? He had almost told her how much he needed her! It almost came out this morning. Luckily for him she'd already left the kitchen.

He punched the air to make up for his failure in vain. How on earth could he feel so much for…well, an android? But then again, Leela was so different. For one, she was on his side: she wished to destroy the android-twins just as much as he did. And then there was that one time where Leela and he were in the middle of a fight and she still had the heart to save him from Juunanagou's Ki-blast. He had put her through painful situations and conversations and treated her like dirt and still she kept trying to make this friendship work.

After he had spent the night talking with Leela about her past, he knew she wasn't just an android. He felt a human being in his arms yesterday, she was crying. She had just as much feelings as anyone else in the world.

He needed her. He needed her different from when he needed Qiana. No, he needed Leela for Leela, just like he needed his mother, only…more…

-

-

Leela sat in the middle of her room. She was going over every memory she had of when she was Unico. But the thing was, the only memories she had, were those she read in the document and those after she fled the lab. She had nothing else…

The memories flew by fast. She kept searching...but found nothing. That couldn't be. There had to be at least one memory that hadn't been written? Maybe she just skipped a few. Hopeful as she was, she went over them again.

Hours had gone by and she was still searching. Tears had unwillingly made their path down her chin. Every time that she began her search over, more hope was fading. Had every other memory been erased? Would she only remember her death as Unico and her rebirth as Akhila Nyati? But she never died! Then why couldn't she find just one memory that dated before the androids had destroyed her home?

Not even one. No memories of her past unless it was written down.

She looked out the window. She thought about little Cody and his younger sister Lilly. What kind of childhood would they grow up in? Destruction everywhere, trading clothes for food, food for clothes, having a shelter below ground as a home where light came from candles and flashlights. Would they want to remember all of this later when they'd grown up? Leela thought she must've grown up in fear of the androids for they have been on the path of destruction for years! Maybe she was better off not remembering? Her tears had dried. A big part of her life was missing. She would never get that back, she knew, unless maybe it was written down somewhere to help her remember, but she highly doubted that. There was nothing more she could do about this.

_Those poor kids_, she thought. Lilly and Cody, they would have to live like this for the rest of their lives if she and Trunks wouldn't stop the androids soon. Trunks…

Trunks… She had to protect him. She could not allow Trunks to find out that it was his Ki that killed Orion, even if it was an accident. It would devastate him. She knew how much Trunks had suffered over the years; if he was to find out… No, he could not let him suffer more, she decided... But wouldn't he suffer when she would use the device? He said he might not be able to go through with it. Why was that anyway? She failed to ask this morning. Maybe she should ask him now? Then they could go over some sort of strategy in defeating the androids as well.

She stood up, turned around and left her room to go find Trunks. She went downstairs, hearing him fight at the end of the hall. She didn't want to disturb him. For a moment she hesitated, but then started walking into the direction of the gravity-room. She was about to push the door open when it rapidly seemed to open by itself. Leela withdrew her hand in surprise, then she saw it was been Trunks. He stood in the doorway.

"You scared me." Leela sighed and smiled.

"Lee, how long have you been standing here?" Trunks asked.

"I've just arrived. I wanted to come in."

"What is it?" Trunks wondered.

"Nothing. I just wanted to check if everything was okay."

"Oh, well, I'm fine." Trunks gave her a quick smile, then passed her and went straight to his room.

-

-

"Trunks?" Leela knocked on the door of his room. "Can I come in?"

"Yea." he replied.

Leela entered. She closed the door behind her and looked for Trunks. He wore blue jeans, but was still trying to decide which sweater to wear and therefore stood in front of his closet. She knew by his wet, tangled hair that he had just come out of the shower.

Leela stepped to his closet, grabbed a red sweater and pushed it into his hands. "Is there something you wanna tell me?"

Trunks, still confused about her picking out his clothes, looked at her in a puzzled way. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't sound so fine when I asked you if you were."

"I still have no idea what you're talking about." Trunks put on the sweater and zipped it. He walked back to the closet for his shoes, then sat down on his bed to put them on.

"Are you sure?" she insisted.

"Really, there's nothing." Trunks looked in her eyes. Those eyes, they were filled with sorrow. He couldn't stop gazing at them. Something had happened, he could see that. He knew she had cried today. She cried even now, but she tried to hide it; she was crying from the inside. Almost intrigued by the fact that her eyes told even more than she would ever say, he kept gazing in them.

"What?" she caught him staring.

"Nothing, it's just..." Trunks stood up. "Well, I'd better ask you what's wrong."

"What? Why?"

He came closer until their bodies were only a few inches away from touching. Leela had to look up to look into his eyes, noticing he was still gazing in hers. He touched her chin. "You've been crying." he said.

"No, I haven't." she whispered.

"Yes, you have. You're eyes give you away." he whispered back.

For a moment, Leela felt the urge to tell him all that she was still hiding, no more secrets, but she couldn't. She pushed him away. "Don't change the subject." she said with firm voice.

Trunks sighed and left the room.

"Trunks!" Leela followed him. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong." Trunks said calmly.

"Yea, there is, and I'm not going anywhere until you tell me." Leela said.

"Fine." To test if Leela would actually do what she said she would, Trunks went to the living room, grabbed a book and sat down in a chair.

Leela sat down on the floor in front of the television and just stared at him.

After a few minutes Trunks got tired of it and looked back at her. "Stop it." he said.

"You listened to my story, now let me listen to yours."

He closed his book. "Okay, you really wanna know what's bothering me?"

"Yes, finally." Leela spoke the obvious.

"It's something I cannot speak of." he began hesitant. "Yet, at least."

"But-"

"No wait. Before you say something, I have to figure this out for myself first. Once I've done that, you'll be the first to know. So please, give me some time." Trunks waited for Leela to say something. He expected it to be something like: "Now who's keeping secrets from whom, huh!" or something like that so it came as a surprise when he heard her say:

"Okay."

"Okay? Just like that?" he wanted to be sure he heard her right.

"Okay." she repeated. "Whenever you're ready." she added.

"Well, thanks." he replied. "So…"

"Yes?"

"So how about you?"

"What about me?"

"Why were there tears in your eyes today?"

"Yea, I seem to be crying a lot lately. It wasn't a big deal, don't worry."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Since we're sharing," she said mockingly to ease the atmosphere. "I don't have any memories from before the androids destroyed my home. Then there's a big gap and then I remember Orion getting killed. From there on, I remember almost everything. It's like I had no childhood. It's weird, that's all. It seemed a lot worse at first, but then I was thinking that maybe not remembering it better. Then I won't have to look back on years of living in fear of the androids."

"Yea, but still. No childhood…" Trunks thought about his own childhood. His father, his friends, his mentor Gohan… "Well, mine wasn't that good either." he concluded.

"Besides, I have you to fill lots of memories with." she said.

Trunks looked at her. "I don't want you to use that device." he blurted out, making Leela gawk at him.

"That was so not the subject here." she said, not knowing what else to say to this. She meant to come to this subject herself, but not quite just like that.

"I don't wanna loose you." he admitted. "Not again. I've lost you over something you obviously couldn't have done, but I'm definitely not gonna loose you over something we can work out together."

"Stopping them by solely fighting didn't work so well last time. I broke my wrist and passed out, remember?"

"But I had Juuhachigou knocked out as well. If we would just work together as a team, we might pull it off."

Leela smiled. "Right, battleplan."

"Up for some training?"

"And discuss some moves while training?"

"Great minds…"

"…think alike."


	16. 15 To Fight

**15. To Fight **

"I have the urge to destroy something." Juunanagou said. "Let's go."

"Are you really that oblivious? Haven't you noticed Trunks becoming stronger?" Juuhachigou replied. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"So? I can still defeat him. With one finger, if I please." Juunanagou said calmly.

"Ugh, fine. Do whatever you want, but I plan to live a little longer."

"Then fight Leela if your so worried about it. She's pretty weak, fast, but weak." he smirked. "Come to think of it, how would her wrist be?"

"Her wrist?"

"I broke it several weeks ago." Juunanagou smirked proudly. "I broke it slowly." he laughed. "You should've seen her face. She was screaming. I had her right where I wanted her, if it wasn't for Trunks." he punched the stone wall in frustration. "I had her right where I wanted, and I will again."

"No, you won't. Leela is mine now. You had too much fun with her already. Besides, you want Trunks, right?" Juuhachigou said, hiding her fear for Trunks. He did knock her unconscious before, what would keep him from doing that again? Or worse..?

"Whatever you want, sis. Just keep in mind that if you don't finish her off, I will enjoy every moment finishing her off myself."

"Believe me, you're too busy fighting Trunks." Juuhachigou said. "And how exactly were you planning on defeating him by yourself?" Juuhachigou had doubts. Trunks had become so much stronger since Leela had come into this situation. He was training her, while she was training him, for they both had different techniques. And because they did, they learned to use both. Too bad she and her brother Juunanagou had somewhat similar techniques.

"Why sis, you still have to ask? Will you never learn that I'm stronger than the both of them?"

"I still think we should train harder instead of joyriding." Juuhachigou stated.

"And I think we should joyride more than train. Pleasure before work." Juunanagou grinned.

"Fine. I have to fight Leela anyway. She's weaker than I am, I'm sure." Juuhachigou simply shook off her doubts and followed her brother in his pride.

"Good, and I'm stronger than Trunks. So that makes me the strongest of you all." Juunanagou saw his sister react with anger. "Don't worry, you're not far behind." he grinned again. "Now, shall we?"

"Shall we what?"

"What we do best, of course. Besides, you could use some cheering up."

Juuhachigou smirked and turned her head into her brother's direction. "Let's crash." she said.

Juunanagou smirked. "Now you're talking."

Both flew away, finding another city to destroy.

-

-

"You know, the best way to do this is to just tell her." Bulma said when she saw her son coming into the kitchen.

"Tell who what?" Trunks wondered, took an apple from the table and sat down at the kitchen table, opposite his mother.

"I know you, my son. You're eyes light up when she's near you or even the subject of a conversation."

"Who are we talking about here?"

"You know exactly who we're talking about. And I believe she feels something for you too."

"I never said anything, how did you... I mean, what makes you think that?"

"I've seen the way you two look at each other."

"There's nothing going on between us."

"Go for it, is all I'm saying."

"There's nothing going on between us." Trunks persisted.

"Oh, but there is a great deal going on between the two of you. You're both just too stubborn to admit it."

"Even if this was true, which is not the case, but if it were, it wouldn't work anyway."

"Why wouldn't it?"

"It would be selfish of us to even consider such a thing when there's no time for it anyway. We cannot let such a thing get in the way of our goal now. We need to finish off the androids. We're the only ones who stand a chance and therefore we owe it to the people."

"There's always time for those you care about."

"Right now, she and I care about those who are in need. They must come first. Whatever happens after: happens after."

"Think it through, Trunks. She isn't an average girl. Such a strong personality is hard to find nowadays; kind, considerate, loyal..." Bulma looked in his eyes. "Follow your heart, before it could be too late."

Trunks stood up. "That's just it, mom. What if I decide to tell her and one of us dies in the next battle? It'll hurt less when nothing has been said." he left the kitchen.

"No, it wouldn't." Bulma sighed. _And that's exactly why you should tell her before it's too late. _

-

-

Trunks passed her room. He stopped and looked back. Her door was open. He decided to take a look and saw her sitting in the middle of the room. Her back was turned to Trunks so she would be able too look out the window. He knew what she was doing; seeing her sitting there so quietly, searching for a memory about her past that hadn't been written, made him feel sorry for her.

He entered her room and stopped right behind her. "Lee." he whispered and tapped her on her shoulder.

She startled, looking up immediately to meet Trunks' face above hers. "Would you mind wearing a bell from now on?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." he chuckled. "Though it was a funny sight." he suddenly spotted a thin, vertical, purple line on her left wrist. "That's a pretty big scar. I've never noticed it before. I thought you said you heal fast?"

She looked at it. "It did, but my skin-texture is the same as any other person. Scars are here to stay." She grinned and held up her arm so Trunks could have a better look. "My battle scar." she added.

"You're proud of that?" he wondered as he observed her scar.

"It tells me I survived a battle. It's pretty cool."

"I believe I should get some credit."

"How's that?"

"I saved you. You wouldn't have been able to admire your scar if it wasn't for me."

"Ah there it is. I thought you lost it."

"Lost what?"

"Your ego." she gave him a playful smile.

"Did you now?" he asked, looking back at her mischievously.

Leela knew exactly what that look meant. She moved to stand up, but before she knew it, Trunks had already picked her up and threw her on the bed where they would try and overpower each other's strength.

Trunks thought he was surely going to win this, but Leela put up a strong fight. She had become so much better these last few weeks that Trunks had to put more effort into overpowering her.

Leela felt how Trunks seemed to know exactly what move she was gonna use next, so in order to throw him off she pretended to move left, then actually moved right. His left arm weakened because of this sudden switch. Leela used it to her advantage and shoved him aside, pulling herself up. She turned him on his back while doing so and finally mounted on his stomach.

"Hah! I win!" she cheered and looked at him. "There goes your ego."

Trunks was still astonished. What did just happen? "You're pretty quick." he said.

"You bet I am." she firmly agreed.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Nah, I'm still enjoying your defeat."

"You're afraid I'll win this one, aren't you?" he smirked.

"Hah, I'll win that one too, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the-"

Trunks grabbed her arm, rolled around and within only a second, he now sat on her.

"What the…?" she stammered out and immediately did the same back. Again he was below her.

Trunks smiled. "Very good, Lee. You're getting better and better."

Leela smiled back, sighed proudly, then let herself drop upon his body. As her head rested on his chest, she stared out the window. "I have to if I want to survive the next fight."

He closed his arms around her waist. "You will. I'll see to that."

"So we stick to the plan then?"

"As we agreed: You keep Juunanagou busy while I take care of Juuhachigou. Then we attack Juunanagou together. We do as we trained it. If something goes wrong, improvise. We've been over this a thousand times. They won't see it coming."

"Why are we still waiting?" Leela asked. "I want to get it over with."

"We don't know where they are. It's up to them how soon they wish to be destroyed." Trunks said.

Suddenly Leela sensed a great force not too far from where they were. If felt like a shooting pain that didn't seem to stop. She looked up at Trunks, wondering if he felt the same.

He did: "This is it." he said. "Let's put our strategy to the test."

-

-

"You guys! Wait up!" Bulma called Trunks and Leela back. She was just in time to catch up with them by the door before they were about to go after the androids. Sensing the two destroying another town just beyond the forest made Trunks eager to finish them off, and fast. Leela on the other hand, was worried, hoping Adam, Meris and the two kids Lilly and Cody were safe where they were, and wouldn't have gone out or something.

"Mom, we have to go." Trunks said, shifting uneasily from one leg to the other. He had gotten impatient.

"Listen." Bulma began and turned to Leela. "Lee, give me back the device."

"No." Leela said without hesitation.

"Now, look." Bulma showed two little iron...-

"-...Bugs?" Leela wondered, gazing at the six tiny-looking legs that were sticking out of their iron shell.

"These are viruses." Bulma explained. "Heather and I made these weeks ago, but we couldn't get them to work back then. I'm not gonna bother you with the technical talk, but we've made five, just not all of them worked. I hope these two will. Try them anyway. You'll never know."

"What will they do?" Trunks asked.

"See these little pins on the side? These are tentacles. Make sure you place them on their foreheads so the tentacles can reach the brain. See, once you've put them in place, the tentacles will enter their brain and spread a virus. It will damage their whole system."

"Will it kill them?" was all Trunks wanted to know.

"They might crash, but I'm not really sure they're that strong. We haven't had the time to properly test them yet. The least they do is slow the androids down." Bulma answered.

"How long does the virus take to spread?"

"A few seconds. If it doesn't, then it's an inactive one."

"Are you sure these tiny tentacles will hold the bug in its place?"

"I'm sure. They extend once they make contact."

"Good job, mom." Trunks said approved.

Bulma then turned to Leela. "Give me the device. We won't be needing it anymore."

"No." Leela said stubbornly.

"Leela, we agreed on it." Trunks tried.

Leela stepped back. "What if those won't work?" she said, pointing at the bugs.

"We still have our plan." Trunks replied.

Leela sighed but gave in. She handed Bulma the device. She put it in her pocket and gave them the bugs. "Good luck." Bulma said. "And come back."

Leela flew up. Trunks however, looked into his mother's worried eyes. "Don't worry, we will." he gave her a quick hug and then followed Leela.

As they were flying, Leela gave him a look.

"What?" Trunks asked.

"Who are you gonna bug? Juunanagou or Juuhachigou?" she grinned.

"Why not you?" Trunks said and smirked back, leaving Leela with a surprised look on her face. But then she saw his suppressed smile and knew he was only joking.

She decided to go along with it. She pushed him aside and said: "Then I should warn you, cuz if I die, I'll haunt you every day and night."

Trunks laughed.

A loud explosion interrupted their conversation. Both looked into the direction of where it came from, knowing it were the androids. And with an anxious feeling, they increased their speed.

* * *

There we go. 15 chapters are rewritten on Januari 2007. I hope you'll still enjoy it. I think I'll be needing 2 or 3 more chapters to finish this story. TT It's coming to an end...

**Thank you for reading and reviewing**. I'll be having another chapter up in March, if I won't forget. I'll write it down on several post-its so I defenitly won't forget to write **chapter 16: The Final Fight.**


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